This pedagogically innovative book is the only law school casebook focused on human rights advocacy in the United States. It illuminates a range of both hot topics and persistent theoretical and doctrinal issues while equipping students to thoughtfully engage these tools in their own practice of law. Readings and case studies expose students to the history, tools, and critiques of the U.S. human rights movement and the legal and practical challenges of human rights implementation in the United States. Skills exercises introduce practice-oriented approaches to engaging human rights-based strategies, including practice before international treaty bodies as well as domestic policymakers. Additionally, the appendices offer the text of relevant human rights treaties.

Appropriate for introductory and advanced seminars, as well as clinical and other experiential offerings, the materials engage students on a remarkable range of issues, including immigration, rights of indigenous peoples, racially discriminatory policing, and right to housing. Chapters also explore fundamental issues of federalism, sovereignty, judicial review, and legal ethics.

Imprint: West Academic Publishing
Series: American Casebook Series
Publication Date: 04/30/2018

Martha F. Davis, Northeastern University

Johanna Kalb, Loyola University-New Orleans

Risa E Kaufman, Columbia University








The Second Edition is updated to reflect the current U.S. political landscape as well as the enduring value of the human rights framework. New examples focus on lead contamination of drinking water and disparities in access to health care. The Second edition explores how, even in the midst of seismic shifts in U.S. politics, human rights continue to offer a powerful normative frame of individual rights and government obligations, as well as important strategies and fora to complement more traditional litigation and advocacy approaches.

Learn more about this series.