Book Talk and Panel Discussion
Animus: A Short Introduction to Bias in the Law
A Discussion with Author William D. Araiza
Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Tuesday, February 6
6 to 7:30 p.m.
Reception to Follow
About the Program
When a town council denies a housing permit for a group home for intellectually
disabled persons, or a state law disallows sexual orientation as a ground
for alleging illegal discrimination, how should a court analyze a claim
that the government is engaging in unconstitutional discrimination? In
recent years, courts have often struck down such laws on the ground that
they are infected by unconstitutional “animus.”
The concept of “animus” in equal protection law has gained
new prominence in recent years and is being increasingly applied to claims
of unconstitutional discrimination on a variety of grounds. In
Animus: A Short Introduction to Bias in the Law (NYU Press 2017), Professor William D. Araiza provides an intuitive, accessible
account of the Supreme Court’s emerging animus doctrine. Building
upon existing constitutional law doctrine, the book uses the Supreme Court’s
animus cases as source material for constructing a coherent doctrine of
unconstitutional animus. In doing so, Professor Araiza harmonizes the
Court’s existing animus cases, explains how the doctrine can apply
to new cases where plaintiffs allege animus, and connects modern constitutional
law doctrine to its earliest roots.
Professor Araiza will be joined by other constitutional law faculty to
discuss the book and concept of animus.
About the Author
William D. Araiza is Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. He has written
numerous scholarly articles on constitutional and administrative law,
and he has written textbooks on constitutional law and First Amendment
law. He is the author of
Animus: A Short Introduction to Bias in the Law (NYU Press 2017) and
Enforcing the Equal Protection Clause: Congressional Power, Judicial Doctrine,
and Constitutional Law (NYU Press 2015). A graduate of Columbia University, Georgetown University,
and Yale Law School, Professor Araiza clerked for the Honorable William
Norris of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and
the Honorable David Souter of the United States Supreme Court. He joined
the Brooklyn Law School faculty in 2009.
Discussants
Doni Gewirtzman, Professor of Law, New York Law School
Joel Gora, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Susan Herman, Centennial Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
K. Sabeel Rahman, Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
RSVP online before Friday, February 2
Location
Brooklyn Law School
Subotnick Center
250 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn, NY
www.brooklaw.edu/directions