Albany Law School

Judge Smith delivering the Justice Jackson keynote address

As part of Albany Law School's Justice Robert H. Jackson Lecture, the Student Bar Association presented "Society, Security and Civil Rights: Examining Sanctioned Discrimination Across Three Generation" on Friday, April 4.

United States Supreme Court Justice Jackson's dissent in Korematsu v. United States, the case authorizing the detention of American citizens of Japanese descent, was the basis of this year's event. The event's panel transitioned from the physical detention of American citizens of Japanese descent, to not only the physical but the construct of societal detention of African American citizens during the civil rights era, to the present day struggle of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgendered community.

The keynote address was delivered by retired New York Court of Appeals Associate Judge George Bundy Smith.

Lecture topics included:

• The Current Generation: Sexual Orientation & The Law;
• The Civil Rights Generation: Race & The Law; and
• Jackson's Generation: National Origin & The Law.

Other panelists included:

• Dr. Scott Barclay, Associate Professor of Political Science, University at Albany;
• Matt Faiella, Esq., Staff Attorney, NYCLU;
• Prof. Athena Mutua, Associate Professor of Law, University at Buffalo Law School;
• Prof. Greg Robinson; Professor of History, Université du Québec à Montréal;
• Evelyn Gong, Esq., Staff Attorney, Canon U.S.A., Inc.;
• Prof. Anthony Farley, James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, Albany Law School;
• Prof. Stephen Gottlieb, Professor of Law, Albany Law School;
• Prof. Nancy Ota, Professor of Law, Albany Law School;
• Prof. Alicia Ouellette, Associate Professor of Law, Albany Law School; and
• Prof. Stephen Clark, Professor of Law, Albany Law School.

About Justice Robert H. Jackson:
Robert H. Jackson (1892 - 1954) was a leading American lawyer, judge, writer and intellectual of the 20th century. While known best as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court and the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, he is also a graduate of Albany Law School. The Justice Robert H. Jackson Lecture Series honors the life and legacy of a man who was vital to the fight for civil rights in the United States and throughout the world.