A group of 505 law professors and faculty have signed a letter that was delivered to the US House Committee on Wednesday, condemning the investigation into Rutgers University Newark Center for Security, Race, and Rights (CSRR) for campus antisemitism.
The congressional investigation of Rutgers University began on March 27 by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx. The letter said the probe threatens “core American commitments to free speech and academic freedom.”
In the letter, the professors wrote that the committee’s investigation into Rutgers CSRR is “a politically motivated and viewpoint-based attack on the Center and a tenured university professor.”
The CSRR is the only US law school-based center that researches how the law affects South Asians, Muslims, and Arabs to educate and advocate on civil and human rights matters. The CSRR hosts various lectures throughout the year but notes “that of the nearly 90 lectures the Center has hosted since its founding, the Committee identifies as ‘antisemitic’ only those in which a speaker is of Palestinian ancestry or expresses pro-Palenstinian viewpoints.”
Following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last year, Foxx has launched several investigations into Universities across the country. “Rutgers stands out for the intensity and pervasiveness of antisemitism on its campuses,” Foxx said in a letter. “Rutgers senior administrators, faculty, staff, academic departments, and centers, and student organizations have contributed to the development of a pervasive climate of antisemitism.”
The professors repeatedly called for the committee to end its investigation and urged Congress to condemn the actions of the Committee. “Beyond threatening a bedrock constitutional value of American liberty, the Committee’s conduct compromises a separate pillar of our democratic republic: academic freedom,” the letter added.
Several other Universities have been investigated following high-profile antisemitism allegations, including Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. Such investigations have led to the resignation of two university presidents.
The Letter
Letter from Concerned U.S. Law Professors Re: House Committee Investigation
[NOTE: We continue to invite signatures from all U.S. law professors. A version of this letter was delivered to the Committee on April 17, 2024.]
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx
Chairwoman, Committee on Education & the Workforce
United States House of Representatives
Committee on Education & the Workforce
U.S. House of Representatives
2176 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Re: House Committee “Investigation” Against Rutgers-Newark’s Center for Security, Race and Rights & Professor Sahar Aziz
Dear Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce:
We, the undersigned, comprise a group of racially, religiously, and ideologically diverse law professors from across the United States. Notwithstanding our differences, we are unified in condemning the House Committee on Education and the Workforce (the “Committee”) March 27, 2024 letter announcing a congressional investigation targeting the Rutgers University Newark Center for Security, Race, and Rights (the “Center”) and Professor Sahar Aziz, the Center’s founder and executive director. The Committee’s actions, which follow a similar February 6, 2024 letter from Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, threaten core American commitments to free speech and academic freedom.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has celebrated free speech as the “bedrock of American liberty.” The Constitution, to which our elected officials pledge fealty, obligates members of Congress and academic leaders at Rutgers University to safeguard the speech rights of all Rutgers’ faculty and academic centers. The Supreme Court has affirmed this foundational constitutional principle: “The vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American schools.”
Elected officials are free to denounce ideas with which they disagree. But they may not abuse their constitutional office to intimidate, harass, and silence legitimate discourse by academics or others they happen to dislike. In our view, the Committee’s March 27, 2024 letter does just that: it is a politically motivated and viewpoint-based attack on the Center and a tenured university professor. Beyond threatening a bedrock constitutional value of American liberty, the Committee’s conduct compromises a separate pillar of our democratic republic: academic freedom.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) explains that “[e]ducators on college and university campuses must be free to speak their minds, ask tough questions, and facilitate learning without the threat of institutional censorship, coercion, or intimidation.” This sentiment echoes foundational Supreme Court jurisprudence:
[O]ur nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned. Academic freedom is therefore a special concern of the First Amendment. It does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.
The Committee’s letter expresses “grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Rutgers’ response to antisemitism on its campuses.” We, too, care deeply about our Jewish students, colleagues, friends, and families. We are committed, unequivocally, to combating antisemitism and all other forms of structural and ideological bigotry and subordination. But the Committee’s attacks against the Center and Professor Aziz do not represent an earnest effort to reckon with antisemitism at Rutgers, or elsewhere: they are part of a cynical campaign to censor dissenting speech and delegitimize open and inclusive academic inquiry and engagement.
Founded in 2018, the Center remains the only academic center at a U.S. law school with the specific mission to research, educate, and advocate for the civil and human rights of South Asians, Muslims, and Arabs. As noted on its website and reflected in its programming, the Center “supports pluralism, religious freedom, and racial equality.” Like the other thirteen academic centers at Rutgers Law School, the Center is a site of robust intellectual life that regularly invites a diverse range of scholars to address matters of public concern in the United States and abroad. The Rutgers’ AAUP-AFT faculty union recently lauded the Center for furthering the university’s mission to be “a national leader in 21st-century higher education through a commitment to the values of educating a diverse citizenry, producing high impact scholarship, engaging in our community as an anchor institution, and drawing the connection between local and global, for the improvement of the economic and social well-being of society as a whole.”
The Center’s first lecture this academic year “addressed how international law developed to prosecute Nazis after the Holocaust set the foundation for subsequent prosecutions of state officials for war crimes and violations of human rights.” We find it notable–and telling–that of the nearly 90 lectures the Center has hosted since its founding, the Committee identifies as “antisemitic” only those in which a speaker is of Palestinian ancestry or expresses pro-Palestinian viewpoints. We also note the irony of the Committee’s accusation that the Center’s recent report Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine-Israel Discourse “delegitimizes victims of antisemitism.” That report, co-authored with a Jewish American expert on Israel-Palestine, documents the precise conduct in which the Committee is now engaging: mobilization of Islamophobic tropes to “fuel and sustain spurious allegations of antisemitism” to discredit and delegitimize critics of Israeli policy and military action.
The fact that the Committee is targeting the only Muslim Arab woman on the Rutgers Law Faculty (comprised of 130 professors) further evidences the improper motivations underlying the Committee’s actions. A “Distinguished Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar,” Professor Aziz is a renowned expert on the “intersection of national security, race, religion and civil rights with a focus on the adverse impact of national security laws and policies on racial, religious, and ethnic minorities.” Professor Aziz has won multiple prestigious awards, authored the groundbreaking book The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom, and recently served as the William & Patricia Kleh Visiting Professor in International Law at Boston University School of Law.
We may disagree with certain of the views which have been expressed at Center-sponsored events or publications. However, we recognize that disagreement is an inevitable—and, yes, critically important—component of robust academic discourse. It is deeply disturbing to witness a Congressional committee attempt to “cancel” a tenured professor because they dislike the views expressed in her scholarship and academic programming on controversial matters of pressing public concern.
We close with the words of the distinguished Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels, who wrote an insightful 2021 Washington Post op-ed titled “Why authoritarian regimes attack universities.” Citing global examples that include the Taliban, Benito Mussolini, and Victor Orban, President Daniels clarifies what many of us intuitively understand: “Independent universities unnerve authoritarians because everything that these institutions strive to achieve is inimical to the autocrat’s devotion to the accumulation and arbitrary exercise of coercive public power.” President Daniels presciently cautioned that “no democracy can prosper without independent universities to forge a bedrock of objective fact, to preserve and interrogate the nation’s collective past, to cultivate diverse and pluralistic communities, and to educate students in the skills necessary for active and engaged citizenship.”
In wielding federal power and authority to silence the Center and Professor Aziz, the Committee’s efforts share alarming parallels with tactics employed by the foreign authoritarians Daniels identifies. The Committee’s conduct constitutes a naked assault on the academic right of every college and university professor to engage in teaching, research and scholarship free from political interference and intimidation. Our present concern, accordingly, extends beyond Professor Aziz and the Center for Security, Race and Rights. The Committee’s attack on education and the freedom to learn threatens American freedom and our constitutional democracy itself.
To this end, we call on Chairwoman Foxx to practice what she preaches. We agree with her statement that “[w]ielding government power as a cudgel against political or cultural adversaries is one of the most ancient forms of bullying.” We also share Chairwoman Foxx’s concern that, in situations like this, “[t]he simple truth is that when the federal government controls education, it controls society itself.”
Thus, we respectfully petition the Committee to cease its unfounded and unconstitutional investigation against Rutgers University, the Center, and Professor Sahar Aziz.
Further, we urge all members of Congress—particularly New Jersey’s delegation—to denounce the Committee’s abuse of power.
Moreover, we invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education to investigate the Committee’s abuse of power during her upcoming site visit to the United States.
Finally, in a spirit of solidarity, we remind the leaders of Rutgers University of their obligation to defend all of their academic centers and faculty members from political interference and threats.
Very truly yours,
To sign this statement, complete this Google Form. Signatures will be added regularly. Thank you for adding your voice to this pressing matter.
Signatories:*
Richard L. Abel, Connell Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA
David Abraham, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law
Kathryn Abrams, Herma Hill Kay Distinguished Professor of Law, UC-Berkeley Law School
Tendayi Achiume, Professor of Law, UCLA Law School
Jabeen Adawi, Assistant Clinical Professor, University of Pittsburgh, School of Law
Beena Ahmad, Assistant Professor, City University School of Law
Amna A. Akbar, Professor of Law, The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law
Susan Akram, Clinical Professor and Director, International Human Rights Law Clinic, Boston University School of Law
Raquel Aldana, Professor of Law, UC Davis
Taifha Alexander, CRT Forward Project Director, UCLA School of Law
Michael P. Ambrosio, Professor of Law, Seton Hall University Law School
Penelope Andrews, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, New York Law School
Sameer M. Ashar, Clinical Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law
LaToya Baldwin Clark, Professor, UCLA School of Law
Asli Bali, Professor of Law, Yale University
Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development, University of California, Irvine
Steven W. Bender, Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Khaled Beydoun, Professor of Law, ASU Law School
Nikolas Bowie, Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Carolyn J Brown, Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of the Law Library, Seton Hall Law
Amber Cain, Technology and Research Services Librarian, and Assistant Professor, Seton Hall Law
Eduardo R.C. Capulong, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Sheryll Cashin, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
Jennifer M. Chacon, Professor of Law, Stanford School of Law
Sumi Cho, Director of Strategic Initiatives, African American Policy Forum
Todd R. Clear, Distinguished University Professor, Rutgers Law School and Rutgers School of Criminal Justice
Laura Cohen, Distinguished Clinical Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Donna Coker, Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law
Jenny-Brooke Condon, Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law
Roberto Corrada, Professor of Law, University of Denver
Kimberle W. Crenshaw, Professor of Law, Columbia Law School & UCLA School of Law
Peggy Cooper Davis, Shad Professor of Law, New York University
Angela J. Davis, Distinguished Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Meera E Deo, The Honorable Vaino Spencer Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School
Orlando Dickson, Lecturer, University at Buffalo Law School
Ryan Doerfler, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Veena Dubal, Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine
Jon C. Dubin, Board of Governers Distinguished Service Professor, Distinguished Professor of Law, and Paul Robeson Scholar, Rutgers Law School
Karen Engle, Minerva House Drysdale Regents Chair in Law, University of Texas School of Law
Joseph Fishkin, Professor of Law, UCLA
Mary Louise Frampton, Professor of Law Emerita, UC Davis School of Law
Kris Franklin, Wallace Stevens Professor of Law, New York Law School
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, Professor of Law and Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Ohio State University
Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law, University of Chicago Law School
Rashmi Goel, Professor of Law, University of Denver, Sturm College of Law
Laura E. Gomez, Rachel F. Moran Endowed Chair in Law, UCLA
Marc-Tizoc González, Professor of Law, University of New Mexico School of Law
Verónica C. Gonzales, Associate Professor of Law, University of New Mexico School of Law
Ariela Gross, Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
Catherine Grosso, Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law
Jonathan Hafetz, Professor of Law, Seton Hall School of Law
Hiba Hafiz, Associate Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
Eve Hanan, Professor of Law, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Joan Howarth, Dean Emerita, Michigan State University College of Law
Ian Haney-Lopez, Distinguished Professor and Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law, University of California, Berkeley
Cheryl I Harris, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
Angela Harris, Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law
Tanya Hernandez, Professor of Law, Fordham University
Emily Houh, Gustavus Henry Wald Professor of the Law and Contracts, University of Cincinnati
Chaumtoli Huq, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Lucy Jewel, Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law
Paula C. Johnson, Professor, Syracuse University College of Law
Jerry Kang, Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
Diane (Klein) Kemker, Visiting Professor of Law, Southern University Law Center
Randall Kennedy, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Duncan Kennedy, Professor of Law Emeritus, Harvard Law School
Abdul Rehman Khan, Assistant Clinical Professor, Seton Hall Law School
Thomas Kleven, Professor of Law, Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Jasleen Kohli, Executive Director, Critical Race Studies Program, UCLA School of Law
Genevieve Lakier, Professor of Law and Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar, The University of Chicago Law School
Brian Leiter, Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Chicago Law School
Chunlin Leonhard, Leon Sarpy Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola University New Orleans
Arthur S Leonard, Professor of Law Emeritus, New York Law School
Edwin Lindo, Associate Teaching Professor, University of Washington
Aaron Littman, Assistant Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
David Lopez, University Professor and Co-Dean Emeritus, Rutgers Law
Gerald P. Lopez, Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law
Beth Lyon, Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
David Lyons, Professor Emeritus of Law and of Philosophy, Boston University
Tayyab Mahmud, Professor of Law, Seattle University
Leo P. Martinez, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law Emeritus, UC College of Law, San Francisco
Solangel Maldonado, Eleanor Bontecou Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law
Emmanuel Mauleón, Greenberg Teaching Fellow, UCLA Law
M Isabel Medina, Ferris Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
Martha McCluskey, Professor Emerita, University at Buffalo
Eric J. Miller, Professor and Leo J. O’Brien Fellow, LMU Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
- David Mitchell, Ruth L. Hulston Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
Margaret Montoya, Professor Emerita of Law, University of New Mexico
Daniel I. Morales, Associate Professor, Dwight Olds Chair in Law, University of Houston Law Center
Janet Moore, Professor Emerita, University of Cincinnati College of Law
Justin Murray, Associate Professor, New York Law School
Athena Mutua, Professor of Law, University at Buffalo, School of Law
Makau Mutua, SUNY Distinguished Professor, SUNY Buffalo Law School
Dr. Dagmar Myslinska, Associate Professor of Law, Creighton University
Vasuki Nesiah, Professor of Practice, New York University
Anthony O’Rourke, Joseph W. Belluck and Laura L. Aswad Professor, University at Buffalo of Law, SUNY
Mariela Olivares, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law
K-Sue Park, Professor of Law, UCLA
Sanjukta Paul, Professor of Law, University of Michigan
Russell G. Pearce, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
Tara Adams Ragone, Assistant Professor, Seton Hall University School of Law
Aziz Rana, Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
Vernellia R. Randall, Professor Emerita of Law, The University of Dayton School of Law
Kim D. Ricardo, Professor & Associate Dean of Experiential Education, University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
Willmai Rivera-Pérez, Associate Professor, Southern University Law Center
Joseph Rosenberg, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Sean Scott, Professor, California Western School of Law
Theodore P. Seto, Hon. Frederick J. Lower, Jr. Chair and Professor of Law, LMU Loyola Law School
Ragini Shah, Clinical Professor of Law, Suffolk University
Fred Smith, Jr., Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, Emory University
Chantal Thomas, Professor of Law, Cornell University
Kendall Thomas, Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Gerald Torres, Professor of Law, Yale Law School
Francisco Valdes, Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law
Sheila I. Velez Martinez, Jack and Lovell Olender Professor of Asylum Refugee and Immigration Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Alicia Virani, Director, Criminal Justice Program, UCLA School of Law
Leti Volpp, Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley
Deborah M. Weissman, Reef C. Ivey II Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law
Niel G. Williams, Nathaniel Jones, Jr. Professor of Law and Associate Professor, Loyola University Chicago
Noah Zatz, Professor of Law and Labor Studies, UCLA
Adnan Zulfiqar, Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Charisa Smith, Professor of Law, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law
Chaz D. Brooks, Assistant Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Evangeline Sarda, Associate Clinical Law Professor, Boston College Law School
Diego H. Alcala Laboy, Assistant Professor of Law, Delaware Law School
Erin Tomlinson, Instructor, CUNY School of Law
Natsu Taylor Saito, Regents’ Professor Emerita, Georgia State University College of Law
- India Thusi, Professor of Law & Senior Scientist, Indiana University Maurer School of Law & The Kinsey Institute
Angi Porter, Assistant Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Natalie M. Chin, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Jenny E. Carroll, Wiggins, Child, Quinn & Pantazis Professor of Law, University of Alabama School of Law
Nancy E Dowd, Distinguished Professor of Law Emerita, University of Florida College of Law
Seema Mohapatra, Professor, SMU Dedman School of Law
Irus Braverman, Professor of Law & Adjunct Professor of Geography, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Jules Lobel, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh Law School
Rachel Rosenbloom, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
Adrienne Davis, William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law, Washington University
Anna Roberts, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Brian Owsley, Associate Professor, UNT Dallas College of Law
Zahr Said, Professor of Law, University of Washington
Carol Mallory, Teaching Professor, Northeastern University School of Law
Margaret W. Bowman, Associate Professor of Law, University of Tulsa
Nancy Chi Cantalupo, Associate Professor of Law, Wayne State University Law School
Frank Deale, Professor of Law, CUNY Law School
Justin Hansford, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law
Kaaryn S. Gustafson, Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law
Steve Zeidman, Professor, CUNY School of Law
Jessica Dixon Weaver, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law
Shanda Sibley, Clinical Assistant Professor of Law, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Carol L. Chomsky, Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
Anthony Paul Farley, James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, Albany Law School
Kevin B. Kelly, Associate Clinical Professor, Seton Hall University School of Law
- David Mitchell, Ruth L. Hulston Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
Luke Herrine, Assistant Professor of Law, Alabama Law
SpearIt, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Akilah Folami, Law Professor, Hofstra University
Darren Bush, Professor, University of Houston Law Center
Kathryn Sabbeth, Professor of Law, Rutgers University-Newark
Brian Soucek, Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Fellow, University of California, Davis School of Law
Zsea Bowmani, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law
Margaret M. Russell, Law Professor, Santa Clara University
Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Professor of Law, Temple University
Jeena Shah, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Ethan J Leib, John D Calamari Distinguished Professor of Law, Fordham Law School
Kenneth B. Nunn, Professor of Law, Emeritus, University of Florida
Katherine Franke, James L. Dohr Professor of Law, Columbia University
Alicia Ely Yamin, Lecturer, Harvard Law School
Matthew Lister, Associate Professor of Law, Bond University (Australia) Faculty of Law
Jennifer S. Hendricks, Professor, University of Colorado
Galina Abdel Aziz, Assistant Professor & Faculty Services Librarian, Seton Hall Law School
Russell K. Robinson, Walter Perry Johnson Professor of Law & Faculty Director, Center on Race, Sexuality & Culture, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Lama Abu Odeh, Law Professor, Georgetown Law
Arlene Amarante, Associate Professor, Lincoln Memorial University
Pedro A. Malavet, Professor, University of Florida Levin College of Law
Farshad Ghodoosi, Assistant Professor of Business Law, California State University, Northridge
April Dawson, Associate Dean of Technology and Innovation and Professor of Law, North Carolina Central University School of Law
Yelena Duterte, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
Ann Cammett, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Emily Hammond, Professor of Law, The George Washington University
Barbara Atwell, Law Professor, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Ruqaiijah Yearby, Kara J Trott Professor in Health Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University’s
Matthew Dimick, Professor of Law, University at Buffalo School of Law
Saskia Valencia, Clinical Legal Fellow, Brooklyn Law School
Prianka Nair, Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Aníbal Rosario Lebrón, Associate Professor, Rutgers Law
Andrew Hammond, Associate Professor of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Shirley Lung, Professor, CUNY School of Law
Caitlin Glass, Visiting Lecturer and Clinical Instructor, Boston University School of Law
Jonathan Gingerich, Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Aziza Ahmed, Professor of Law, Boston university School of Law
Andrew Foster, Clinical Professor of Law, Duke Law School
Faisal Chaudhry, Assistant Professor of Law and History, University of Massachusetts School of Law
Leigh Goodmark, Marjorie Cook Professor of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law
Cyra Akila Choudhury, Professor of Law, FIU College of Law
Angelo Petrigh, Clinical Associate Professor, Boston University School of Law
Elissa Steglich, Clinical Professor, University of Texas School of Law
Bonny Tavares Dean, Associate Professor, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Jane E. Cross, Professor of Law, Associate Dean for Equity, Inclusion, & Public Impact, and Director of the Caribbean Law Program, Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law
Shirley Lin, Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Thomas Healy, Board of Visitors Distinguished Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law
Maneka, Sinha, Associate Professor of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law
Erica B Schommer, Clinical Professor of Law, St. Mary’s University School of Law
Kimberly Bailey, Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law
Brooks Holland, Professor of Law, Gonzaga University School of Law
Teri McMurtry-Chubb, Professor of Law, University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
Mark Bartholomew, Professor of Law, University at Buffalo School of Law
Rob Hochbaum, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
Almas Khan, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Mississippi School of Law
Jennifer Moore, Regents’ Professor of Law, University of New Mexico School of Law
Greg Baltz, Assistant Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Aliza Organick, Professor of Law, University of New Mexico School of Law
James Gathii, Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Matthew Charity, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Neil Gotanda, Professor Emeritus, Western State College of Law
Carl H. Coleman, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Professor of Law, Seton Hall Law School
Faiza Sayed, Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Franklin Siegel, Distinguished Lecturer (Retired), CUNY School of Law
Aissatou Barry, Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Vijay Raghavan, Associate Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Louis Raveson, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Chrystin Ondersma, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Sarah Lorr, Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Sarah Katz, Clinical Professor of Law, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Gautam Hans, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
Eric Franklin Amarante, Associate Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law
Zinaida Miller, Professor of Law & International Affairs, Northeastern University School of Law
Ramsi Woodcock, Associate Professor of Law, University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law
David D. Troutt, Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School-Newark
Brandon Weiss Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Beth Stephens, Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Kathryn Sabbeth, Professor of Law, Rutgers University
Danielle Kie Hart, Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School
Thomas Williams, Assistant Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Babe Howell, Professor, CUNY School of Law
Susan Carle, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Robert K Goldman, Professor of Law & Louis C James Scholar, American University Washington College of Law
Alexander A. Boni-Saenz, Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
James Silk, Binger Clinical Professor of Human Rights, Yale Law School
Maryam Jamshidi, Associate Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School
Beth G. Schwartz, Clinical Professor of Law Emerita, Fordham University School of Law
Erin M. Carr, Assistant Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Charles R. Lawrence III, Professor of Law, Emeritus, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii
Ande Davis, Teaching Fellow, Washburn University School of Law
Binny Miller, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Experiential Education, American University, Washington College of Law
Randle DeFalco, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Hawaii at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law
Jorge Contesse, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Kenneth Lawson, Co-Director, Hawaii Innocence Project, University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law
Adam Davidson, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
Lydia X. Z. Brown, Lecturer in Disability Studies and Vice Chair of the Disability Rights Bar Association, Georgetown University
Mary Marsh Zulack, Clinical Professor Emerita, Columbia University School of Law
Susan Serrano, Professor of Law, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Judith Fox, Clinical Professor Emerita, Notre Dame Law School
Allison Tait, Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Faculty, University of Richmond School of Law
Alexander A. Reinert, Max Freund Professor of Litigation and Advocacy, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Andrea J. Boyack, Floyd R. Gibson Endowed Professor, University of Missouri School of Law
Benjamin Davis, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Toledo College of Law
Dara Purvis, Associate Dean of Research and Partnerships and Professor, Penn State Law
Rebecca Redwood French, Roger and Karen Jones Distinguished, Research Faculty and Professor SUNY Buffalo School of Law
Eric Yamamoto, Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Hawaii Law School
Amy Cohen, Robert J Reinstein Chair in Law, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Kermit Roosevelt, David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Ellen Yaroshefsky, Professor of legal Ethics, Hofstra Law School
David Oppenheimer, Clinical Professor of Law, UC Berkeley
Michael Pinard, Francis & Harriet Iglehart Professor of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law
Martha R. Mahoney, Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law
Caitlin Barry, Professor of Law, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Christine Haight Farley, Professor, American University Washington College of Law
Randi Mandelbaum, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Nicole B. Godfrey, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law
Colleen Campbell, Associate Professor of Law, Hofstra School of Law
Lawrence Sager, Professor of Law, University of Texas School of Law
Carlos Ball, Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Donna Nixon, Librarian and Clinical Professor, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Stacy Caplow, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Susan D. Bennett, Professor Emerita of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Anjali Vats, Associate Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh
Florence Wagman Roisman, William F. Harvey Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Professor, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Anita Sinha, Professor of Law, American University
Paula Galowitz, Clinical Professor of Law Emerita, New York University School of Law
Luke Norris, Professor, University of Richmond School of Law
Vincent Southerland, Associate Professor of Clinical Law, NYU School of Law
Ann Eisenberg, Professor of Law, West Virginia University College of Law
Jasbir Bawa, Asst Prof. of Lawyering Skills, Howard University School of Law
Robert S. Chang, Professor of Law and Executive Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, Seattle University School of Law
Ndjuoh MehChu, Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law
Lisa A. Crooms-Robinson, Professor, Howard University School of Law
Daria Fisher Page, Clinical Professor of Law/Associate Dean of Clinical Programs, University of Iowa College of Law
Stephen Rosenbaum, Frank C. Newman Lecturer, UC, Berkeley School of Law
Cesar F. Rosado Marzan, Edward Carmody Professor of Law, University of Iowa
Audrey G. McFarlane, Professor, University of Baltimore School of Law
Jane M. Spinak, Edward Ross Aranow Clinical Professor of Law Emerita, Columbia Law School
John Capowski, Professor of Law Emeritus, Widener Commonwealth Law School
Adil Haque, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Karen U. Lindell, Senior Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Aparna Polavarapu, Associate Professor, University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law
Christian Sundquist, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Kimani Paul-Emile, Professor of Law, Fordham Law School
Alec Walen, Distinguished Professor of Law and Philosophy, Rutgers University
Emily Berman, Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
Maurice Dyson, Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School
Gilbert Paul Carrasco, Professor of Law Emeritus, Willamette University College of Law
Yvette Butler, Associate Professor of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Upendra D Acharya, Professor of Law, Gonzaga University
Barbara O’Brien, Professor, Michigan State University College of Law
Dennis Prieto, Associate Professor and Reference Librarian, Rutgers Law School
Omavi Shukur, Associate Research Scholar, Columbia University
Faisal Kutty, Professor, Southwestern Law School
Mohammad Fadel, Professor of Law, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Sarah L. Swan, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Evelyn Malavé, Associate Professor of Law, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University
Shirin Sinnar, Professor of Law, Stanford University
Craig Jackson, Professor of Law, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University
Rachel E. VanLandingham, Irwin R. Buchalter Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School
Jennifer Laws, Senior Lecturer, The University of New Mexico School of Law
Katheryn Russell-Brown, Professor of Law, University of Florida
Dana Lee, Assistant Professor of Law, UCI School of Law
Mark Cammack, Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School
Ata Hindi, Visiting Assistant Professor, Tulane Law School
Jennifer Brown, Associate Director, Hawai’i Innocence Project, University of Hawai’i, William S. Richardson School of Law
Nadia Ahmad, Associate Professor of Law, Barry University
Richard Buxbaum, Jackson H. Ralston Professor of International Law (Emeritus), Berkeley Law
Gowri Krishna, Professor of Law, New York Law School
Eileen Kaufman, Professor of Law Emerita, Touro University, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
Tomar Pierson-Brown, Assistant Professor of Law, University Pittsburgh School of Law
Guadalupe Luna, Professor Emerita, NIU College of Law
Antonia Eliason, Associate Professor, University of Mississippi School of Law
Elizabeth Berenguer, Associate Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law
Anthony Paul Farley, James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, Albany Law School
Reena Parikh, Assistant Clinical Professor, Boston College Law School
Vanessa Racehorse, Assistant Professor of Law, University of New Mexico School of Law
LeRoy Pernell, Professor of Law, Florida A&M University College of Law
Maha Ayesh, Director of Experiential Learning and Assistant Professor of Law, Lincoln Memorial University School of Law
Llezlie Green, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
Seema Saifee, Assistant Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Rob Howse, Lloyd C Nelson Professor of International Law, NYU Law
Claudia Angelos, Clinical Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Laura Rovner, Professor of Law, University of Denver College of Law
Rene Reyes, Associate Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School
Lawrence Carl Levine, Professor of Law, U. of the Pacific – McGeorge Sch. of Law
Nina Farnia, Assistant Professor of Law, Albany Law School
Darren Hutchinson, Professor & John Lewis Chair for Civil Rights and Social Justice, Emory University School of Law
Marjorie A. Silver, Professor of Law, Touro University Law Center
Leslie Rose, Professor Emerita, Golden Gate University
Erin M. Carr, Assistant Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Wendy B Scott, Professor & Associate Dean Special Projects, Elon University School of Law
Gregory P. Magarian, Thomas and Karole Green Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
Bijal Shah, Associate Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
Kenneth W. Mack, Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Jennifer J. Lee, Associate Professor of Law, Temple Law School
Donna H. Lee, Professor, CUNY School of Law
Yasmin Sokkar Harker, Law Library Professor, CUNY Law
Nermeen Arastu, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Rebecca Scott, Professor of History and Professor of Law, University of Michigan
Anil Kalhan, Professor of Law, Drexel University
Priscilla A. Ocen, Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Alexi Pfeffer-Gillett, Assistant Professor, Washington and Lee University School of Law
Shauhin Talesh, Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine
Saleema Snow, Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law
Erika K Wilson, Professor of Law & Wade Edwards Distinguished Scholar, University of North Carolina School of Law
Thalia González, Professor of Law, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco
David M. Forman, Professor of Law, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai’i at M?noa
Jamillah Bowman Williams, Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Workers’ Rights Institute, Georgetown University
Vishnu Sridharan, Postdoctoral Fellow in Law and Philosophy, University of California, Los Angeles
Lauren van Schilfgaarde, Assistant Professor, UCLA School of Law
Sheila Foster, Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Urban Law; Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University
Girardeau A Spann, James and Catherine Denny Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
Irene Ten Cate, Associate Professor of Legal Writing, Brooklyn Law School
Sandeep Dhaliwal, Research Scholar & Clinical Teaching Fellow, NYU School of Law
Sherally Munshi, Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown
Karen Pita Loor, Clinical Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Daria Roithmayr, Provost Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School
Etienne C. Toussaint, Associate Professor of Law, University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law
Jon Hanson, Professor of Law, Harvard University
James (Jim) Cavallaro, Visiting Professor, Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs
Janet Halley, Eli Goldston Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
- David Ball, Professor, Santa Clara University School of Law
Allegra McLeod, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Anne Gordon, Clinical Professor of Law , Duke Law School
Ruhan Nagra, Associate Professor of Law, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
Thomas E. Kadri, Assistant Professor, University of Georgia School of Law
Hallie Jay Pope, Visiting Associate Professor, S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah
Alina Das, Professor of Clinical Law, New York University School of Law
Avidan Cover, Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Victoria Sahani, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Tarek Z. Ismail, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Colin Dayan, Professor of English and Professor of Law Emerita, Vanderbilt
Sam Erman, Professor, University of Michigan
Margaret B. Drew, Associate Professor of Law, University of Massachusetts School of Law
Tianna Gibbs, Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law
Leila Sadat, James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law, Washington University School of Law
Dehlia Umunna, Clinical Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Constance de la Vega, Professor Emeritus, University of San Francisco
Jason D. Williamson, Adjunct Clinical Faculty Member, New York University School of Law
Michael Karanicolas, Executive Director – Institute for Technology, Law & Policy, UCLA
Matiangai Sirleaf, Nathan Patz Professor of Law, University of Maryland School of Law
Julie Goldscheid, Professor of Law Emeritus, CUNY Law School
Raff Donelson, Associate Professor of Law, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
Katharine Baker, University Distinguished Professor of Law, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
Lua Kamal Yuille, Professor, Northeastern University
Portia Pedro, Associate Professor of Law, Boston University
Carla Laroche, Associate Professor of Law, Tulane Law School
Manoj Mate, Associate Professor of Law, DePaul University College of Law
Marissa Jackson Sow, Associate Professor, University of Richmond School of Law
Monte Mills, Charles I. Stone Professor and Director, Native American Law Center, University of Washington School of Law
Christine Desan, Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Andrea Curcio, Professor, Georgia State University College of Law
Nyamagaga R. Gondwe, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School
Eric Wright, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law
Maria C. O’Brien, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
John Teeter, Professor of Law, St. Mary’s University School of Law
Kathleen (Cookie) Ridolfi, Professor Emeritis, Santa Clara University School of Law
Cynthia Lee, Edward F. Howrey Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School
Karl Klare, George J. & Kathleen Waters Matthews Distinguished University Professor, Northeastern University School of Law
Martin Levy, Professor of Law, Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Jared Trujillo, Associate Professor, CUNY School of Law
Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, New York University
Laurel Fletcher, Chancellor’s Clinical Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Justin Levitt, Professor of Law, LMU Loyola Law School
Margalynne J. Armstrong, Associate Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law
Jonathan Harris, Associate Professor of Law, LMU Loyola Law School
Ruth Coker, Heck-Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
Dana Sajsi, Associate Professor, Boston College
Charles I. Auffant, Clinical Professor of Law, Rutgers University School of Law
Carmen Gonzalez, Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Sacha M. Coupet, Morris I. Leibman Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Anita Sinha, Professor of Law, AU Washington College of Law
Hannah Demeritt, Clinical Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law
Margaret Burnham, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
John Torok, Lecturer, Labor and Community Studies, City College of San Francisco
Deborah Archer, Professor of Clinical Law, New York University School of Law
Richard Winchester, Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law
Magaret Satterthwaite, Professor of Clinical Law, NYU School of Law
Leticia Saucedo, Professor of Law, UC Davis
Audra Lyn Savage, Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University School of Law
Jessica Eaglin, Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
Amy Widman, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Linda Bosniak, Distinguished Professor, Rutgers Law School
Joshua Jones, Professor, California Western School of Law
Tonya Brito, Professor, University of Wisconsin Law School
Richard Michael Fischl, Constance Baker Motley Professor of Law, University of Connecticut School of Law
Elise C. Boddie, James V. Campbell Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
Ediberto Roman, Professor of Law, Florida International University
Luis Muñiz Argüelles, Professor, University of Puerto Rico Law School
Zanita Fenton, Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law
Eric M. Freedman, Siggi B. Wilzig Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Rights, Hofstra Law School
Tom I. Romero, II, Associate Professor, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Kevin Brown, Mitchell Willoughby Professor, Joseph Rice School of Law of the University of South Carolina
Juan F. Perea, Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago
Marcia L. McCormick, Professor of Law, Saint Louis University
Ahilan Arulanantham, Professor from Practice, UCLA School of Law
Nomi Stolzenberg, Professor, USC Gould Law School
Julia Hernandez, Associate Professor, CUNY School of Law
Gloria Valencia-Weber, Professor Emerita, University of New Mexico School of Law
James Tierney, Assistant Professor, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Evelyn Douek, Assistant Professor, Stanford Law School
Laila Hlass, Clinical Professor of Law, Tulane Law School
Christopher Lau , Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin Law School
Julie C. Suk, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
Kim Abubakar Ali Forde-Mazrui, Mortimer M. Caplin Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Mary Yanik, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Tulane Law School
Jeannine Bell, Curt & Linda Rodin Professor of Law & Social Justice, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Deborah Hellman, Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Clare R. Norins, Assistant Clinical Professor, University of Georgia School of Law
Sarah Dadush, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Kim Lane Scheppele, Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University
Gustavo Ribeiro, Assistant Professor, American University Washington College of Law
Laura Padilla, Professor of Law, California Western School of Law
Jill Engle, Professor of Law, Penn State Law (University Park)
Laura A. Hernandez, Professor of Law, Baylor Law School
Adam Herpolsheimer, Adjunct Professor and Law & Policy Analyst, Temple University Beasley School of Law – Center for Public Health Law Research
Liliana Zaragoza, Associate Professor of Clinical Law & Director, Racial Justice Law Clinic, University of Minnesota
Jennifer Rosen Valverde, Distinguished Clinical Professor of Law, Rutgers U. School of Law
Roxanna Altholz, Clinical Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Bassam Khawaja, Lecturer in Law, Columbia Law School
Bridgette Baldwin, Professor of Law, Western New England University School of Law
Luwam Dirar, Assistant Professor of Law, Western New England School of Law
Naomi Mezey, Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Law & Culture, Georgetown Law
Erin Collins, Professor, University of Richmond School of Law
Jasmine Gonzales Rose, Professor, Boston University
Clara Potter, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Tulane Law School
Aya Gruber, Harold M. Heimbaugh Professor of Law, USC Gould School of Law
Sandra Babcock, Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
Aziz Huq, Frank and Bernice J. Professor of Law, University of Chicago
Darrell D. Jackson, Winston Howard Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Wyoming College of Law
Lindsay M. Harris, Professor of Law, University of San Francisco School of Law
Jeremiah Chin, Associate Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Alina Ball, Professor of Law, UC College of the Law, San Francisco
Michael Boucai, Professor of Law, SUNY at Buffalo School of Law
Rachel Godsil, Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Danya Reda, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Massachusetts School of Law
Alexis Karteron, Professor of Clinical Law, New York University School of Law
Jamelia Morgan, Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Enid Trucios-Haynes, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Human Rights Advocacy Program, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, University of Louisville
Saira Mohamed, Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law
Cynthia Godsoe, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Ann E. Tweedy, Professor, University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law
Rabea Benhalim, Associate Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School
Richard Thompson Ford, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
Jonathan Feingold, Associate Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Alveena Shah, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh
Julian Hill, Assistant Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law
Vinay Harpalani, Professor of Law, University of New Mexico School of Law
David C. Bloomfield, Professor of Education Leadership, Law & Policy, Brooklyn College & The CUNY Graduate Center
Salome Viljoen, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan
Pilar Margarita Hernandez Escontrias, Assistant Professor, Seattle University School of Law
Tyler Rose Clemons, Acting Assistant Professor, NYU School of Law
Miyoko Pettit-Toledo, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Hawai‘i at M?noa William S. Richardson School of Law
Olympia Duhart, Professor of Law, Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law
Kate Skolnick, Acting Assistant Professor, New York University School of Law
Eleanor Lumsden, Professor of Law, Golden Gate University
James Gray Pope, Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, Rutgers Law School
* Affiliations noted for identification purposes only. The views expressed in this letter should not be attributed to any of the noted institutions.
** Please direct all media inquiries to Athena Mutua.
