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Poverty Law

B643 is taught by S. Boys, A. Hammond

This course offers an introduction to the substantive law and procedure of public benefit programs in the United States. The course will identify persistent controversies in poverty law, including means-test design, funding structure, federalism issues, and behavioral rules, as well as how poverty law interacts with other areas of law including immigration law and disability law. Throughout, we will examine to what extent the agencies that administer these public benefits are vulnerable to federal litigation and what remedies may result from such litigation.

After completing this course, students will be able to understand the basic contours of American welfare programs as well as how those programs vary among states, tribes, and territories; identify the legal sources of and recent controversies over public benefits in the United States; apply doctrinal, strategic, and practical considerations to the process of litigating both against and on behalf of welfare agencies in federal and state court; and demonstrate an understanding of the origins, opportunities, obstacles, and lacunae of legal aid and public interest practice.