Robert Quackenbush, staff attorney at the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society of New York, will come to campus to give a brief primer on the current formulation of qualified immunity. He’ll then back up to the beginning to discuss how we got there – the passage of the Ku Klan Klan Act of 1871 (now 42 USC section 1983), the expansion of 1983 in Monroe v. Pape, and the steady judicial backlash to Monroe that has manifested itself in the modern qualified immunity doctrine. He’ll conclude with reasons for hope, including the Supreme Court’s most recent qualified immunity decisions, QI-related cert petitions currently pending before the Supreme Court, and legislative reforms. Food will be provided, more details on the menu to come!