W&L Law MLK Events Feature Berkeley Professor Sonia Katyal, Voting Rights Panel

By Peter Jetton
January 9, 2018

Washington and Lee University School of Law will host several events as part of the University’s multi-day observance of Martin Luther King’s birthday.

On Monday, January 15 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m, Professor Sonia Katyal will present a lecture titled “The Fire Next Time: Resistance in Three Dimensions” in the Millhiser Moot Court Room, Sydney Lewis Hall. Professor Katyal is a civil rights activist deeply engaged in the democratic project and a nationally renowned scholar on the intersection of technology, art, and civil rights.  She currently serves as the Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Then, on Thursday, January 18 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., also in the Millhiser Moot Court Room, the law school will host a panel discussion examining the lasting impact of U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Shaw v. Reno (1993), which held that excessive consideration of race in redistricting is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  The panelists for this discussion are Professor Atiba R. Ellis (West Virginia University College of Law); Professor Martha Kropf (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Department of Political Science); Professor Mark Rush (W&L Politics Department); and Mr. Dorian L. Spence (Director of Special Litigation and Advocacy, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law).  Professor Christopher B. Seaman (W&L Law) will moderate the discussion.

Professor Katyal and all other events in the multi-day program, which runs from Jan.12-Jan 21, are free and open to the public. Some events require tickets or RSVP. The complete schedule of events and ticket/RSVP information can be found online.