AALS Discussion Group

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Session Type: AALS Discussion Groups

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: Hilton New Orleans Riverside

Room: Churchill A2

Floor: Second Floor

State and local courts play an important and undertheorized role in our legal system. From parking tickets to partisan gerrymandering, they resolve the vast majority of legal disputes. They can hold federal officials accountable and protect individual rights above federal baselines. They administer vital social programs and are a central part of state policymaking. Despite these powers, they have largely escaped scholarly attention. This panel will elevate state and local courts and the scholarship that explores them. It will foster a robust discussion about the place of these courts in our current moment of federal overreach and retrenchment and beyond.