LJS 232 - Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division

Credits: 4 Designed for students with an interest in law school and/or an interest in the history of civil rights. An exploration of civil rights in the United States from the post-reconstruction period, civil rights from an activists’ perspective, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and civil litigation. The course includes a close examination of the work of the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section which was instrumental in police misconduct matters involving, for example, the Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland, police departments. We also examine the potential impact of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ final memo regarding consent decrees and how it will affect investigations of police departments. FDR: SS2 Simpson and DeLaney.