Melissa Murray, a professor at New York University School of Law, completed a weeklong residency at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law as the Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals March 20–24, 2023. She is a leading expert in constitutional law, family law, and reproductive rights and justice.
Murray’s weeklong residency featured a presentation on her co-authored article, Dobbs and Democracy, visits to classes at the UH law school and UH Mānoa’s American Studies department, a talk with students at an event co-sponsored by the American Constitution Society, and a lunch with faculty and students of Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, where Murray offered advice about pursuing social justice in a legal environment dominated by a conservative Supreme Court supermajority.
At the culmination of the week, Murray and her co-hosts Professors Leah Litman (Michigan Law School) and Kate Shaw (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law) recorded an episode of the award-winning “Strict Scrutiny” podcast before a live audience at UH Mānoa. The episode, available online and on major streaming platforms, included a segment with special guest U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono. It also featured the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court’s recent application of “the right to a life-sustaining climate system” in the Hu Honua case, and highlighted the UH law school’s Ka Huli Ao Center’s “pathbreaking work at the intersection of Native Hawaiian rights and environmental law.”
Murray began her residence virtually in October 2022 with a keynote presentation moderated by UH law school Dean Camille Nelson titled “Unpacking the Court: What Does a Conservative Super-majority Mean for the Court and America?”
More information about the appointment is available at the UH law school website.
