The International Human Rights/Rule of Law Initiative provides students with extensive exposure to human rights and rule of law issues as they arise in domestic litigation, international human rights complaints, policy work, international field work, coursework, and scholarship. The Initiative pulls together the work being done in the Immigration & Human Rights Clinic, the Immigration & Workers' Rights Clinic, the Constitutional and Civil Litigation Clinic and the International Human Rights Project, and collaborates with organizations such as the Center for Constitutional Law, the ACLU of NJ, the Gibbons Public Interest and Constitutional Law Fellowship, the Immigration and Refugee Rights Clinic at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria, and Seton Hall Law's Haiti Rule of Law Association.
Clinics
The Civil Rights and Constitutional Litigation Clinic focuses on national security and human rights cases emerging from the "war on terror," including those raising issues related to the lawfulness of extraordinary rendition, torture and indefinite detention. The clinic has been heavily involved in the Guantánamo Bay habeas cases, is involved in litigation to protect the rights of immigrants, prisoners rights and to increase openness in government.
The Immigrant Workers’ Rights Clinic represents and works on legal and policy issues affecting immigrant workers, along with providing representation in asylum and human rights actions. Cases handled by students include representing individuals in claims for unpaid wages, human trafficking cases, and human rights cases related to workplace exploitation.
Students in the Immigration & Human Rights Clinic represent people from all over the world who are in need of protection including those seeking political asylum, relief under international treaties such as the Convention Against Torture, or special visas for victims of human trafficking. Students gain exposure to conditions of immigration detention for both newly arrived asylum seekers and long-time residents of the United States who are imprisoned while awaiting removal. Students represent clients before administrative bodies, federal appellate and district courts and international human rights bodies and tribunals. In addition to litigation, students may also be engaged in fact finding and comparative law and human rights projects. For example, the Immigration & Human Rights Clinic works in collaboration with an immigration clinic at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria. Through this project, students work on family reunification petitions before the European Court of Human Rights. Students may also be involved in comparative refugee law and human rights projects with other nations.
Clinic Faculty
• Baher Azmy
• Leena Khandwala
• Bryan Lonegan
• Lori Nessel
Cases, Projects, Initiatives
Center for Social Justice faculty, and the students they supervise, transform the lives of countless individuals through their work on a wide range of legal, social, and public policy issues. Here is a sampling of some of their recent work.
ICE Raids - Challenging the unlawful raiding of immigrants’ homes by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Guantánamo – Working on behalf of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay and the case of Murat Kurnaz.
Haiti Rule of Law – Collaboration between Seton Hall Law and L’Ecole Superieure Catholique de Droit de Jérémie in Haiti.
Cross-Border Collaboration with the University of Sofia, Bulgaria - Working together to bring petitions before the European Court of Human Rights.