Reflections on Iqbal: Discerning Its Rule, Grappling with Its Implications
TOMORROW, March 26, 2010, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Penn State University, The Dickinson School of Law
Lewis Katz Hall, Auditorium (Carlisle); Lewis Katz Building, Auditorium (University Park) (Simulcast)

IQBAL PORTAL | SCHEDULE | ABSTRACTS

In May 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, which on its face, appeared to be a case about national security issues. So why has the decision caused so much discussion among civil rights advocates and civil procedure scholars? What does the decision really mean? Answers to these and other questions will be explored during the program.


Sponsored by the Penn State Law Review, the symposium features the Honorable Anthony J. Scirica, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Honorable Lee H. Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and Chair, Judicial Conference Committee on the Rules of Practice and Procedure, and the Honorable D. Brooks Smith of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Three panels of legal academics will cover the following topics:

  • Iqbal’s implications for the role of the courts and judges in providing society with both the opportunity for redress of harms and a common law-based approach to the development of law (featuring Professors Ray Campbell (Penn State), James Maxeiner (Baltimore), Jeffrey Rachlinski (Cornell), and Nancy Welsh (Penn State)).
  • An exploration of the majority’s reference to purposeful discrimination and what it signals about contemporary understandings of race in America (featuring Professors Darren Hutchinson (American), Ramzi Kassem (CUNY), Victor Romero (Penn State), and Shoba Wadhia (Penn State)).
  • Iqbal’s implications for constitutional tort litigation, including the decision’s potential impact on supervisory liability, qualified immunity and the behavior of agency officials operating under adverse conditions (featuring Professors Mark Brown (Capital), Gary Gildin (Penn State), Kit Kinports (Penn State) and James Pfander (Northwestern)).