ASAM3110 - Immigration and the Making of US Law

This course examines the legal history of the United States to illuminate one of the most urgent issues of our time: immigration. From the late nineteenth century, immigration to the United States changed the legal landscape of the country by challenging the bounds of national citizenship, “separate but equal,” Congressional powers, home ownership, and an array of other topics. In this course, we will trace how immigrants challenged existing orders of their time through major state and federal supreme court cases, and the subsequent aftermaths of their trials. In addition to considering the key legal issues at stake in these cases, this course compels us to consider the dynamics of race, disability, gender, and labor that define the construction of US law in the context of immigration.