What: “Battling for Immigrants’ Rights: Litigation, Advocacy and Government Service” a talk by Lucas Guttentag
When: Thursday, March 26 from 3:30-5 p.m.
Where: The University of Texas School of Law, Eidman Courtroom, reception to follow in the Jamail Pavilion
Cost: Free and open to the public
Background: Lucas Guttentag, founder and former national director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, and current senior counselor to the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the Department of Homeland Security, will discuss developments in immigration since the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965. The event kicks off the 10th anniversary celebration of the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law.
His talk will pull from his experiences battling for immigrants’ rights as a litigator and advocate and, of late, inside government.
For more than 25 years, Guttentag litigated class action and constitutional cases on behalf of immigrants and refugees at the ACLU; arguing in the Supreme Court.
“I came to immigrants’ rights work fortuitously from a civil rights perspective” he said. “Seeing there was an opportunity to bring the tools of civil rights litigation to the immigration field early in my career when the issues were still emerging, and the community of immigrants’ rights lawyers was very small, was a unique opportunity.”
Since September 2014, Guttentag has been on leave from teaching (he holds positions at both Stanford and Yale law schools) to serve in the Obama administration to help develop and implement executive actions to reform the immigration system.
He visits the Texas Law as the G. Rollie White Public Interest Scholar in Residence, with support from the G. Rollie White Trust. He is also a former law clerk to Judge William Wayne Justice.
“Judge Justice has served as an inspiration almost every day of my career. His picture is always on my desk,” Guttentag said. “His courage, his insights, his legal instincts and his ability to see the essential elements of justice and fairness in every circumstance – and then to have the will and the savvy to find a way to further them – is a perspective I try to always remember and have serve as my guide.”
The event is co-sponsored by the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, and the Texas Law Immigration Clinic.
For more information, contact: Mary Crouter, mcrouter@law.utexas.edu, 512-232-7855.