Rascoff Wins Notes & Renderings Carnegie In just his first year in academia, Assistant Professor Samuel Rascoff has won a grant from the Carnegie Foundation of New York. One of 24 Carnegie Scholars who will receive up to $100,000 for research projects to “enrich the quality of the public dialogue on Islam,” Rascoff will The State of Matrimony examine how the U.S. under- stands Islam, drawing on com- ast may, near the end of a year-long period in parisons to the United Kingdom which six states legalized same-sex marriage, David Boies Reframing and the Netherlands, as well as (LL.M. ’67) teamed with Bush v. Gore rival Theodore Olson Sotomayor with Cold War-era Sovietology. L to challenge Proposition 8, the ballot measure ending gay Before joining the Law School marriage in California. “This is not something that is a partisan In July, the Bickel and Brewer faculty, Rascoff was the NYPD’s Latino Institute convened an in- issue,” but one of civil rights, said Boies in the New York Times. formal discussion regarding the director of intelligence analy sis Not all proponents applauded the bold move. Jennifer Pizer coverage of Sonia Sotomayor’s and special assistant to Ambas- ’88, marriage project director for Lambda Legal, told the Times nomination to the U.S. Supreme sador Paul Bremer with the Coali- the federal suit was “risky and premature” and that a Supreme Court. Sotomayor has strong tion Provisional Authority ties to the Law School: She Court loss could set the cause back decades. But Olson, a Dwight in Iraq. He is the fifth attended the New Appellate academic from NYU D. Opperman Institute of Judicial Administration board member, Judges Seminar offered by the Law to score a grant countered, “We studied this very, very carefully,” adding that it was Dwight D. Opperman Institute since the program hard to tell clients, “Why don’t you...wait another five years?” of Judicial Administration in 1998, her rookie year as judge began in 1999; Meanwhile, antidiscrimination law expert Kenji Yoshino, of the U.S. Court of Appeals no other law Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional for the Second Circuit, and she school has won Law, weighed in on the sanctioning of same-sex mar- was an adjunct professor of law more than two. from 1998 to 2007. riage rights in multiple states—including Iowa and Previous win- Vermont in the span of four days last April—in the “We want to take stock of ners include Times, on NPR, and in other media outlets. In a how Latinos have helped professors podcast for the NYU Law Web site, Yoshino inter- shape the law in the United Noah Feld- preted the Iowa Supreme Court’s unanimous de- States,” said the institute’s man (now at faculty director, Professor cision: “A 7-0 decision says that there really isn’t Harvard Law Cristina Rodríguez. “A lot of School), Ste- an argument we can credit on the other side, the media focus has been phen Holmes, and this manifests a movement away from on how Sotomayor would and Richard EDENTHAL thinking about the same-sex marriage issue add demographic diversity Pildes, as well I D N as being up for debate and toward the idea to the Court, but without a as Aziz Huq, I that to be against same-sex marriage is like meaningful discussion of former deputy ON: DAV being against interracial marriage.” (Listen the historical contributions director of the I to the full interview at law.nyu.edu/news/ of Latinos, including ad- Brennan Cen- vancements in civil rights.” LLUSTRAT yoshino_podcast_marriage.) ter for Justice. I A Baker’s Dozen of Food for Thought This fall, University Professor Jeremy Waldron delivers one of the most prestigious lectures in the academy, the Oliver Wendell Holmes Lecture at Harvard Law School. It will be the 13th major lecture that Waldron, a legal philosopher, will have given at top universities throughout the world. “These famous lecture series are great events in academic life, and OUSE H the universities that sponsor them are understandably anxious to TE I match the quality and reputation of each year’s speaker to the high importance of the occasion,” said Ronald Dworkin. P IMAGES/WH October 2009 A “It is a wonderful tribute to Jeremy that so many of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Lecture best universities have turned to him for that purpose.” Harvard Law School, SOTOMAYOR: Cambridge, MA 4 NYU SCHOOL OF LAW notes & renderings ruling, said, “If we look at where the problems have taken Voting Rights Endure—for Now place in recent elections, Ohio hen debo adegbile procedures. Since the district 5 unconstitutional. Adegbile and Florida come to the fore, ’94 appeared before does not register voters, it was faced skeptical questioning and neither one is a covered W the Supreme Court in deemed ineligible to bail out, from several justices; one of jurisdiction under Section 5.” April to argue against a consti- and so brought suit to win that the most prominently raised Adegbile, on the other tutional challenge to Section 5 right or, alternatively, to over- questions was whether the mix hand, considers the continued of the Voting Rights Act of turn Section 5 entirely. The of covered ju- 1965, it was the climax of latter possibility made North- risdictions was several years’ effort to win west Austin Municipal Utility now outdated. congressional reauthoriza- District Number One v. Holder Many legal ana- tion of provisions of the VRA. the most highly anticipated lysts predicted a Adegbile, director of litigation opinion of the last term. 5-4 decision. at the NAACP Legal Defense The tone of the oral argu- The Court and Educational Fund, had ment on April 29 led most ob- surprised both testified in both the House and servers to believe the Supreme sides on June 22 Senate and made appearances Court might declare Section when it ruled 8-1 across the coun- to address the West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, 1963 try to educate the case narrowly, A Message from Dean Revesz public and engage leaving Section 5 intact. The relevance of Section 5 a leg- in debate about Court gave non–voter-regis- islative matter rather than we have a tremendous issue here! i am delighted to be able to present you VRA issues. tering entities the right to seek a judicial one: “Where you On the sur- bailout relief, but also implied have a statute that has with- with a timely cover story that will shed light on the intersection between law and face, the case that Section 5’s constitutional stood the test of time and has was a simple one. status might be under threat. been a transformative piece politics as we come into the fi nal stretch of the 2008 presidential race. Two of our A small Texas Professor Richard Pildes, of legislation…that system utility district whose congressional tes- should not lightly be set aside.” faculty, Samuel Issacharoff, the Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law, with an elected timony on Section 5’s 2006 Acknowledging that no board wanted reauthorization was quoted in system is flawless, Adegbile and Richard Pildes, the Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law, along with their the opportunity the opinion, said, “Congress said, “Section 5 has never been to “bail out” of had thrown down a gauntlet a perfect metric of all of the colleague Pamela Karlan, a past judge on and president of its obligations to the Court by not updat- places where discrimination professor at Stanford Law the Inter-American Court of under Section 5, ing the Act in 2006, and the is happening, but it’s been a School, are the co-creators of Human Rights, Buergenthal which requires Court responded in its own very effective one at getting at a legal fi eld called the Law of has made profound contribu- that certain lo- more gentle way by essentially some of the most entrenched Democracy. tions to the cause of human cal jurisdictions throwing the gauntlet back discrimination.” He added, Th e groundbreaking case- rights. In fact, as the magazine with a history of down to Congress and saying “In my work I travel near and book they published in 1998, was going to press, he was one voting rights dis- the Act is in serious constitu- far to hear from those folks The Law of Democracy: Le- of two recipients of the Gruber crimination seek tional jeopardy.” about whether or not they gal Structure of the Political Foundation International Jus- Justice Depart- Agreeing with Pildes, need Section 5…. Their experi- Process, has transformed the tice Prize, a $500,000 award ment preapproval Professor Samuel Issacharoff, ence has been such that they way scholars view election honoring those who advance Adegbile, left, with other LDF counsel, emerging law. Defi ning the cluster of the cause of justice through before chang- after arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court. whose law review article understand that the struggle ing their voting on Section 5 was cited in the for equality is not done yet.” legal issues underpinning the legal system. the practice and theory of On a lighter note: Did you American democracy, their know that Professor Roderick 2009 2008 2007 2006 2006 2005 work turned diff use areas of Hills Jr. had to fi nd a new home the law into a coherent dis- for Refl ector, his horse, before Tanner Lectures Space for Storrs Julius Stone Jonathan I. Charney F.W. Guest cipline—one that is quite coming to NYU? Turn to page on Human Values Thought Lectures Address Lecture in Memorial Lecture popular among law students.