Through a facilitated conversation, this session will explore how clinical legal education should respond to rising authoritarianism in the United States and globally. What responsibilities do clinical educators face amidst unprecedented assaults on the rule of law, human rights, and democracy? How might clinical legal pedagogy adapt to respond to these threats? And what is the role of fundamental rights and human rights lawyers in both resisting these attacks and thinking clearly about new approaches to rights-based advocacy and movement building? The session considers these questions from the perspective of rights protection in the United States, including health, housing, and other fundamental rights, and international human rights as a global field of theory and practice. Drawing on participants’ personal experiences as practitioners and educators, the session will reflect on whether and how we should rethink perceived orthodoxies about human rights work and teaching in the U.S. and beyond. Are there new frameworks, approaches, and models to consider and how do we bring them into our clinical classrooms? Participants will draw connections and raise questions for collective consideration, including on the design of clinical and experiential projects to address this critical moment.