Civil Rights CLE

Human trafficking knows no limits, and this predatory crime plagues rural, suburban, and urban communities in the United States and throughout the world. Traffickers deprive their victims of their identity, self-worth, autonomy, and freedom through force, intimidation, and false promises. This continuing legal education course will review the various federal laws protecting child and adult human trafficking victims. This course will review two scenarios that in-house or external counsel may encounter when advising businesses and health systems: (1) drafting human resources and procurement policies that effectively prohibit human trafficking activities (e.g., avoiding suppliers that violate human rights laws by engaging in labor trafficking activities, prohibiting employees from viewing or receiving child or trafficked pornographic materials on company or personal devices on work time, and prohibiting employees from purchasing sexual activities while traveling out of state or to a different country for work), and (2) advising a health system on devising a community-wide protocol and health system policy to respond to and aid victims of human trafficking.

The federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (“McKinney-Vento”) guarantees homeless children and youth access to free, appropriate public education and the right to educational continuity and stability. With a global pandemic that has put many students at risk of housing instability and displacement, lawyers can play an important role in addressing their legal needs through McKinney-Vento. States and school districts are required under this federal law to review and revise laws, policies, regulations, and practices that may act as a barrier to the education of homeless children and youth. This course provides an overview of the educational rights of homeless children and youth and how lawyers can help them navigate and enforce these legal rights and ensure compliance of the law. Participants will learn the legal considerations when working with the educational rights of homeless students.

Learn what it takes to develop and litigate citizen suits to enforce our country’s landmark environmental laws! This course will cover the basic purposes of citizen suits; the remedies available to successful litigants; the key steps involved in developing and filing citizen suits; and trends that affect the value and viability of citizen suits as a tool.

Are you curious about environmental justice work? Confused about where to start? This course will cover basic terminology and history; laws commonly used to present and seek to address environmental justice issues in U.S. courts; and practice tips and principles.

In this program, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Senior Attorney and Managing Litigator Selena Kyle will introduce the concept of environmental justice and discuss trends in federal environmental justice policy and private environmental-justice advocacy. This program will use examples from the guest’s own impact litigation practice to illustrate current issues in environmental justice.

This course will address the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on civil rights and civil liberties in the United States. AI issues constitute a fast-changing legal landscape in which courts and regulators are attempting to keep pace with rapid technological changes. Automated decision systems now affect the housing, employment, education, and credit opportunities people are given. They also affect liberty and due process rights when used by government agencies. This course will provide an overview of key legal issues that are emerging in civil rights and liberties contexts because of the use of artificial intelligence.

When a State officer violates someone’s constitutional rights, 42 USC § 1983 allows suit for money damages. But no such law allows claims against federal officials. Instead, since Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), the Supreme Court has implied a private cause of action for damages against federal officers for some types of Constitutional violations. In Ziglar v. Abbasi, 137 S. Ct. 1843 (2017), the Supreme Court substantially narrowed this doctrine, limiting the rights of people in prison or federal detention centers to sue for money damages when they have been beaten, placed in dangerous conditions of confinement, discriminated against or otherwise mistreated. This course will survey the current state of prison Bivens claims.

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade and held that there is no constitutional right to abortion. This program will trace the path toward and beyond Roe, including the decisions involving the right to privacy and substantive due process. We conclude with some predictions about the effects of the Dobbs decision for abortion rights and other constitutional rights.

Students and faculty alike are protected from discrimination in education under Federal Law. If an educational program receives federal funds, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination based on sex, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination based on disability. Nonetheless, the remedies available under these laws were drastically limited by the US Supreme Court, on April 28, 2022, when its decision in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller cutoff victims' right to recover emotional distress damages. Learn what remedies remain under these federal laws and how the Court's narrow reasoning left emotional distress damages available under other anti-discrimination statutes. This course will break-down the Cummings Case and prepare you to litigate education discrimination under its new rubric. 

Prior to Brown v. Board and the passage of the landmark civil rights laws of the 1960s, perpetrators of discrimination were clear in their reasons for what the law now recognizes as unlawful conduct.

While civil rights laws have a huge impact in eradicating what some call “honest discrimination” where the culprit admits his/her/its reasons for wrongful conduct, the laws have given rise to new schemes that – often harder to detect – are designed to achieve the same discriminatory impact.

This one-hour lecture will outline the trajectory of our discrimination laws, the rise of dishonest discrimination, and provide practical tips on litigating discrimination cases where proof is complex.

Discrimination law is top of mind for most attorneys and businesses throughout the country. We all like to discuss the latest news headlines and debate our culture wars to determine who is right and wrong, but in reality, that discussion misses the point. The real question is what is the cost of being wrong. For example, while pecuniary damages (such as back pay and front pay) are known and tangible, have you considered non-pecuniary damages in your case evaluation? In discrimination law, the largest category of damages is emotional distress, which can vary depending on the proof you have and your ability to prove it in court. In this course, Andrew Lieb will teach you how to gather and prove these intangible damages, which will make or break your discrimination case.

In this course, Andrew Lieb will discuss the emergence of restrictions on speech in public schools and whether those restrictions constitute actionable viewpoint discrimination. Can the government regulate what teachers and students wear and display in our public schools? When are time, place, and manner restrictions permissible and when are they discriminatory? Do policies like the “Don't Say Gay” rule, violate the First Amendment? This course will teach you how to analyze a viewpoint discrimination case and prepare you to fight to protect your clients' constitutional rights.