MARCH 27, 2018 PROGRAM: Equal Protection: Myths and Realities About Constitutional Protections for Women

Posted by Jodi Erickson on Mar 27, 2018

In the late 19th and early 20th Century, the Supreme Court repeatedly held that the Constitution did not protect women from discrimination on the basis of their sex. It was not until the 1970s that the Court would recognize Constitutional protections from sex based discrimination. These cases form the frameworks that the Court still uses to measure equal protection. This interactive and surprising presentation considers what those cases tell us about equal rights under the law then, now, and in the future.

Professor Leondra Hanson earned her BA from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN and her JD from the University of Minnesota. She joined the Hamline University faculty full time in 2008 after several years practicing and teaching law. Currently, Professor Hanson directs the graduate and undergraduate legal studies programs at Hamline and serves on the steering committee for the University’s Center for Justice and Law. She teaches several courses including Law in the Lives of Women which focuses on understanding women’s legal history while also providing practical legal skills to prepare students for advocacy roles. Professor Hanson regularly trains professional audiences on a wide range of topics from how to facilitate conversations about sexual misconduct to topics on legal compliance for professionals. Whatever the issue, Professor Hanson aims to make the law engaging and to empower participants to explore law and legal concepts in new ways.