Poverty and the Law

Catalog description

We are living in a time of significant and rising income inequality. This course will examine the ways in which legal doctrine and policy both alleviate and exacerbate disparities in socioeconomic status. The course will survey key legal issues affecting low-income communities, beginning with an examination of the origins of social welfare policy and the due process and equal protection frameworks that have governed poverty-related claims. The course will then provide an overview of major anti-poverty initiatives, including those related to income support and welfare, housing, health care, and employment, and the doctrinal questions surrounding their implementation. The course will conclude by examining topics related to the equal administration of justice, including the ability of low-income people to access the courts in civil cases and the criminalization of poverty. In each section, we will explore recurring themes in debates over anti-poverty policy as well as the intersection of issues of race and gender. Readings will include case law, statutes, and social science scholarship as well as selected litigation documents. Grades will be determined by a final paper on a poverty law topic and class participation. The paper can be used for writing credit.