"Constitutional Remedies"
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Dean John c. Jeffries Jr.
University of Virginia School of Law
Emerson Spies Professor of Law
Arnold H. Leon Professor of Law
University of Virginia School of Law
University of Virginia School of Law Dean John C. Jeffries Jr. will speak on "Constitutional Remedies." His talk will advance four propositions. First, generally speaking, the content of constitutional rights does not compel any particular remedy. The choice of remedies for constitutional violations is properly a question of design and strategy, rather than logical deduction from the content of the right. Second, the goal of remedial choices should to ensure that constitutional rights are effectively enforced. That is not to say that every instance of unconstitutional conduct can or should be redressed, but rather that the remedial structure should be generally sufficient to constrain government from violating the right at issue. Third, appropriate remedial structures for different rights differ significantly. Particular remedies make more sense for some rights than for others. It follows that remedies should vary with rights and that doctrines providing or limiting constitutional remedies across the board will be sub-optimal. Fourth, in appropriate circumstances, the strategies for vindicating constitutional rights will include structural reform injunctions. In certain circumstances, damages and simple prohibitory injunctions will be insufficient. Categorical hostility to structural injunctions is therefore unjustified and unwise.
John Jeffries serves as Dean, Emerson Spies Professor and Arnold H. Leon Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. Dean Jeffries earned his B.A. from Yale University in 1970 and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1973. He joined the Virginia law faculty two years after earning his law degree in 1973. His primary research and teaching interests are criminal law, constitutional law, federal courts, and civil rights actions. Jeffries served as Academic Associate Dean from 1994 to 1999. In the fall semester of 1999, he was acting dean during the sabbatical of Dean Robert Scott. He became Dean in the fall of 2001.
Jeffries has been a visiting professor of law at the University of Southern California, Yale, and Stanford. He was John V. Ray Research Professor from 1989-1991, Horace W. Goldsmith Research Professor from 1992-1995, and William L. Matheson and Robert M. Morgenthau Distinguished Professor from 1996-2001.
During law school, Jeffries served as editor-in-chief of the Virginia Law Review. He received the Z Award for the highest academic average and the Woods Prize for the outstanding graduate. Immediately after graduation, he became law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. before serving in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant for one year.
David C. Baum Memorial Lecture Series on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
David C. Baum
1934-1973
The family and friends of David C. Baum have endowed the David C. Baum Memorial Lecture Series on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights not only in his memory, but at his request. Deep concern for the dignity and rights of all people was central to Professor Baum's character and activities.
After receiving his undergraduate and legal education at Harvard University, Professor Baum served as law clerk for Justice Walter V. Schaefer of the Illinois Supreme Court, 1959-60. He then practiced law with the Chicago firm of Ross, McGowan, Hardies and O'Keefe until he joined the faculty of the University of Illinois College of Law in 1963.
Professor Baum was an inspiration to his students and colleagues not only because of the excellence of his teaching, scholarship, and public service, but because of his remarkable human qualities. Conscientious and judicious, blending passion for justice with dispassionate objectivity, he inspired the highest level of discourse and endeavor in all who had the privilege of knowing and working with him.
It is hoped that the David C. Baum Memorial Lecture Series on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights will constitute a fitting memorial to a man whose unrelenting intellectual vigor and moral commitment made his presence in the world of law invaluable.
Tuesday, April 10
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Max L. Rowe Auditorium
Reception to follow in the Pedersen Pavilion
