Humanities & Society

Leila Sadat, a law professor and founder of the Initiative on Gun Violence & Human Rights at Washington University in St. Louis, equates the U.S. government’s failure to prevent and reduce gun violence with violating children’s human rights. “America’s kids are not okay. As gun violence surges and politicians dither, school shootings are traumatizing a generation of youth,” Sadat wrote in a recent essay. “While only one manifestation of America’s gun violence crisis, school shootings are shocking in their ferocity, the senseless and random nature of the violence, and their impact upon millions of young, captive and vulnerable individuals.”

Public dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court’s rulings and its performance has been growing. New research by political scientist James Gibson in Arts & Sciences suggests the controversial Dobbs decision may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Kim Thuy Seelinger, research associate professor at the Brown School, participated in a United Nations General Assembly event, “Ensuring Accountability for Sexual Violence and Other Violations of International Humanitarian Law,” Sept. 21 in New York.

Economist Andrew Jordan in Arts & Sciences uses data analytics to uncover potential bias in the criminal justice system by studying the decisions made by courts, police and prosecutors.

Elizabeth Katz, associate professor of law at Washington University School of Law, has been selected as the 2021-2022 Haub Law Emerging Scholar in Gender & Law by Pace University for her paper “Sex, Suffrage, and State Constitutional Law: Women’s Legal Right to Hold Public Office.”

In a new law clinic, students gain experience with litigation, parole work, clemency cases and more as they help those wrongfully convicted of crimes.

Experts from Washington University in St. Louis offer perspectives on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the impact it will have on American law, people and politics.

While the ruling in the Maine case is unsurprising given the court’s recent decisions around freedom of religion, some of the rhetoric around the case misrepresents the role of constitutional protections for religion in a pluralistic society, said John Inazu, expert on law and religion at Washington University in St. Louis.

Federal district judges appointed by Republican presidents were found to be less likely to require mask wearing in the courtroom during the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a new study from the School of Law.

Ellie Stitzer, who is set to graduate in May with a law degree from Washington University School of Law, is a passionate advocate for disability rights.