Professor Andrea J. Martin launches the Center for Jewish Legal Studies with Professor Rona Kaufman

CARLISLE, PA—Professor Andrea J. Martin, together with Professor Rona Kaufman of Duquesne University School of Law, has founded the Center for Jewish Legal Studies (CJLS), a new independent academic center dedicated to establishing Jewish Legal Studies as a recognized field of legal scholarship at the intersection of Jewish peoplehood, antisemitism, antizionism, Jewish civil rights, and the law.

As antisemitism evolves and debates surrounding Israel, Jewish identity, and civil rights intensify across campuses, workplaces, and courts, CJLS seeks to provide rigorous, historically grounded, and legally informed scholarship addressing these emerging challenges.

The Center recently co-sponsored the Law and Antisemitism Conference at Cardozo School of Law, convening leading scholars, practitioners, and community leaders from across disciplines and countries. CJLS also participated in the Brandeis Center’s Antisemitism, Civil Rights, and the Law conference at Harvard University, where Kenneth L. Marcus emphasized the growing importance of antisemitism legal studies as an emerging academic discipline.

Looking ahead, CJLS is developing compliance and antisemitism training initiatives in partnership with organizations including the Academic Engagement Network and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. Additional projects include amicus briefing, new Jewish Legal Studies courses in the United States and Israel, a scholars’ retreat focused on advancing the field’s research agenda, and planning for future academic conferences and faculty initiatives.

The Center has also released its inaugural newsletter highlighting recent developments, partnerships, and upcoming initiatives. Read and subscribe by clicking here.

The mission of the Center for Jewish Legal Studies is to establish Jewish Legal Studies as a rigorous field of legal study that equips courts, institutions, and advocates with accurate, peoplehood-centered, and Zionist-informed legal frameworks to protect the civil rights of Jews individually and collectively and to confront Jew-hatred in law and policy.

Professor Andrea J. Martin’s research focuses on constitutional law, anti-discrimination law, and both historical and current antisemitism. Through her work in the developing field of Jewish Legal Studies, she creates legal frameworks and promotes strategies to influence policies aimed at combating antizionism and other modern forms of Jew-hatred and protecting civil rights.