AALS Discussion Group

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Session Type: AALS Discussion Groups

Session Capacity: N/A

Hotel: Hilton New Orleans Riverside

Room: Grand Salon Section 18

Floor: First Floor

Deep currents underlie the fissures of race and class in this country. Defined by conquest, slavery, and immigration, these fault lines have persisted through segregation, civil rights, and reverse discrimination. Their current manifestations—the browning of America and reign of the 1%—once again call our national identity into question: as a white plutocracy or as a multiracial democracy. In this discussion group, dispute resolution, First Amendment, professional responsibility, race, and social justice scholars will interrogate how the confines of law and lawyering limit dialogue to liberal legalist premises. What lies beyond the call for civility, moderation, common ground, and the peaceful, orderly resolution of irreconcilable values? What do these mean in an era of political polarization and resistance? How do we, as law teachers and lawyers, navigate our roles as intellectuals, dispute resolution professionals, constitutional guardians, and social justice advocates and forge a path in the multiracial, egalitarian tradition?