CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - David Rudovsky, senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, will deliver the spring lecture in the David C. Baum Memorial Lecture Series on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights.
His presentation, "Civil Rights Litigation: The Paradox of Rights Without Remedies," is to begin at 4 p.m. March 11 (Thursday) in the Max L. Rowe Auditorium at the College of Law, 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave, Champaign.
The lecture will address civil rights law since the 1953 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The "paradox" of his title lies in the fact that, although Congress and the court have expanded civil rights and liberties during the last 50 years, both institutions also have restricted or eliminated judicial remedies for constitutional violations. He will argue that Congress has enacted "door-closing" legislation, while the court has invoked doctrines of immunity and federalism to deny relief even for proven constitutional claims.
Rudovsky is a founding partner in the Philadelphia law firm of Kairys, Rudovsky, Epstein & Messing, LLP. He has argued two civil liberties cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and written several books, including "Police Misconduct: Law and Litigation" and "The Rights of Prisoners." In 1986, he received a MacArthur Fellowship for his work in criminal justice and civil liberties.
The lecture is free and open to the public.