Author: Professor Tracy Thomas

THE CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AT AKRON
Constitution Day Lecture, Thursday, Sept. 16 12:15pm

Virtual Event Virtual Link CONSTITUTION DAY LECTURE

The Equal Protection of the Text

Prof. Katie Eyer, Rutgers Law School

Katie Eyer is an anti-discrimination law scholar, teacher and litigator. She is a leading expert on LGBTQ employment rights and on social movements and constitutional change. Her article Statutory Originalism and LGBT Rights has been credited with originating the textualist argument that the Supreme Court adopted in the landmark case of Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) holding that anti-LGBT discrimination is discrimination “because of sex” under Title VII.

Professor Eyer is a member of the American Law Institute and has been recognized at the national, university and local level for her scholarship, teaching, service, and work as a litigator. Her work has been published in numerous top law journals, including the Yale Law Journal and the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Prior to teaching, Professor Eyer was a lawyer doing cutting-edge work in the area of LGBTQ employment rights at the Employment Rights Project at Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, one of the first projects in the country to focus on the employment rights of LGBTQ workers, and then at the private firm Salmanson Goldshaw. Professor Eyer’s work resulted in several precedent-setting decisions expanding the rights of LGBTQ and disabled employees, including one of the first appellate decisions in the country allowing a gay plaintiff’s Title VII claims to go to trial. She clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi and was a Research Scholar and Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania.

Constitutional Law Center Fellows

The Center for Constitutional Law at Akron Law is seeking applications from students interested in serving as Constitutional Law Center Fellows for the 2020-21 academic year.  The four Con Law Fellows work to support the research and programming of the Center.  The Center for Constitutional Law is one of only four national resource centers established by Congress in 1986 on the bicentennial of the Constitution to support research on constitutional law.  Fellows are supervised by the director of the Center for Con Law, Professor Tracy Thomas.  Fellows conduct legal and archival research for scholarly papers, write and edit articles for the online journal ConLawNOW, manage the Center’s social media research, and assist with planning programming and events sponsored by the Center.  The Con Law Fellowship is unpaid, but offers opportunities for mentorship, advanced research skills, networking, and resume distinction, all advantages in building professional opportunities.  Fellows are expected to commit eight hours per week to the fellowship throughout the course of the appointment from June 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021. 

Interested students should submit a resume and statement of interest to Professor Tracy Thomas at thomast@uakron.edu by May 31, 2020.   More about the Con Law Center generally is available here: https://www.uakron.edu/law/ccl/.

Prof. Tracy Thomas, Director of the Center for Constitutional Law, seeks to hire one or two research assistants to engage in research for the Con Law Center.  The research work includes legal, electronic, and historical archival research on issues of law and gender, legal history, and gender inequality.  Projects may include research and editing work on a book manuscript, research for law review articles, and news and scholarly research for social media posts and blogs.  The archival research may include work on site at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland.  The position begins May 20, 2019 and continues through April 2020.  The position requires five to ten hours of work per week over the summer, and five hours of work weekly during the academic year.  It is paid at a rate of $10 per hour, and offers additional benefits of enhanced research skills and mentorship.  

To apply, please submit a statement of interest and a resume to Professor Thomas at thomast@uakron.edu.

Impeachment and the Constitution: What Does It Say?

 Does the Constitution give insight into whether the President can be impeached? Are the recent lawsuits for impeachment viable? The Con Law Fellows welcome you to come discuss this hot topic!

When: Wednesday, November 29^th 12:15 – 1:15

Where: Veteran’s Lounge, 2^nd floor library