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María Pabón López, Associate Professor of Law, taught at the Indiana Graduate Judges Program during the week of June 5th through the 9th at the Brown County Inn, in Nashville Indiana. Prof. López’s gave a timely course on “Immigration Law, The Rights of Noncitizens and Beyond.” The course considered the sources of the federal government’s power to regulate immigration and the plenary power doctrine as enunciated by the Supreme Court in its jurisprudence. It also examined how those who are not United States citizens can enter the United States through the four main types of immigrant categories under the Immigration and Nationality Act: family based immigration, employment based immigration, asylum law and through the diversity lottery program. The course also covered a discussion of the constitutional rights of noncitizens here in the United States through a close reading of leading Supreme Court jurisprudence, as well as an examination of the recent immigration reform proposals and the policies and purposes which they pursue.

The Graduate Judges Program is in its tenth year, and is presented by the Indiana Judicial Center. The Planning Committee consists of Justices Shepard, Rucker and Sullivan of the Indiana Supreme Court and Judge Baker of the Indiana Court of Appeals. Over thirty Indiana state court judges, including one Court of Appeals judge, were members of the intensive one week class. Prof. López is the co-director of the Latin American Law Summer Program and participated the law school’s summer program in La Plata, Argentina last year.