Friday, March 4, 2016

An Afternoon with José Padilla and Friends



It's not often one has the opportunity to shake hands with the victor of a Supreme Court case. Yesterday, many of us did just that.  José Padilla, of Padilla v. Kentucky, 130 S.Ct. 1473 (2010), spoke to students, faculty and guests at the Crimmigration Law Lecture event at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, organized by Prof. César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández and Prof. Christopher Lasch.

The afternoon began with a keynote by UC Davis School of Law Dean Kevin Johnson, recapping his forthcoming Case Western Law Review article, Doubling Down on Racial Discrimination: The Racially Disparate Impacts of Crimmigration Law.

Next, Mr. Padilla recounted his ordeal, followed by commentary from Prof. Lasch, Prof. Yolanda Vázquez and Denver crimmigration lawyer extraordinaire, Hans Meyer.  The video is here.

Finally, the day wrapped with a panel on the essential element of race in crimmigration, with Prof. Vázquez, and Prof. Linus Chan, moderated by Dean Kevin Johnson.  The video is here.

Did Padilla solve the 6th amendment crimmigration problem?  Not by a long shot.  See, e.g., The Pressure is On - Criminal Defense Counsel Strategies After Padilla v. Kentucky, by Bill Ong Hing.

Many thanks to Prof. García Hernández, Prof. Lasch, José Padilla and all the panelists, participants and planners.  Stay tuned for more.

- Dan Kowalski, Bender's Immigration Bulletin (LexisNexis)

@dkbib on Twitter, www.bibdaily.com

Contact: dk@justnews.org or text/call 512-826-0323.