Civil Rights Law
What makes crimes of discrimination and police brutality different
from others? How are constitutional torts different from other torts?
Questions like these are explored in classes focusing on topics
including the nature of bias crimes and the protection of free expression,
the obligation to obey the law versus moral aspects of resistance
to the law and gender issues in a legal context.
A Sampling of Course Offerings:
- Political and Civil Liberties
- Civil Rights Litigation
- Legal Rights of Individuals with Disabilities: Issues in Federal Statutory Practice
BU Law Professor Tracey Maclin filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Cato Institute and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The case, Booker T. Hudson Jr. v. State of Michigan, concerns whether the inevitable discovery doctrine creates a per se exception to the exclusionary rule for evidence seized after a Fourth Amendment "knock and announce" violation by police executing a search warrant for narcotics. The brief asks, "Do police have to follow the law before forcibly entering a person’s home?"