Contesting Immigration Policy in Court

What difference does law make in immigration policymaking? Since the 1970s, networks of progressive attorneys in both the U.S. and France have attempted to use litigation to assert rights for non-citizens. Yet judicial engagement - while numerically voluminous - remains doctrinally curtailed. This study offers new insights into the constitutive role of law in immigration policymaking by focusing on the legal frames, narratives, and performances forged through action in court. Challenging the conventional wisdom that "cause litigation" has little long term impact on policymaking unless it produces broad rights-protective principles, this book shows that legal contestation can have important radiating effects on policy by reshaping how political actors approach immigration issues. Based on extensive fieldwork in the United States and France, this book explores the paths by which litigation has effected policy change in two paradigmatically different national contexts.

Author: Leila Kawar
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 09/01/2016
Pages: 232
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.49d
ISBN: 9781107415119

About the Author
Kawar, Leila: - Leila Kawar is an assistant professor in the Legal Studies Program of the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research, which has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Council for European Studies, focuses on the intersection of legal activity with migration and citizenship. She is active in the Law and Society Association, where she served for four years as coordinator for the Citizenship and Immigration Collaborative Research Network. She is a cofounder of the Migration and Citizenship Section of the American Political Science Association.