Discussion Issues: Concurrent Session on Local Government, Land Use & Environmental Law
John M. Payne, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, S.I. Newhouse Center for Law & Justice

The topic is broad, the time is short (one hour) and our discussion is to be shaped by what is said in the morning plenary session and the substantive concurrent sessions that follow. Unconstrained by those facts, here are some wildly tentative thoughts on directions that the discussion of "pedagogy" might take.

1. Common themes among Local Government, Land Use and Environmental Law

• The role of theory: How do law and economics, public choice, critical race, and other normative structures help or hinder our ability to incorporate discussion of property, wealth and equality in the classroom?
• State constitutional law: state norms as an alternative to national ones in substantive due process and equal protection.
• The prevalence of statutory norms: These courses depend heavily on statutes. How do we teach about access to the law making process; about standards of review, etc., as functions of race and class?
• Access to the courts: standing of advocacy groups; intervention in on-going disputes; attorneys fees.

2. Course specifics: What are the entry points in the syllabus for consideration of property, wealth and inequality? Some obvious examples to get started:

• Local government: I&R; delegation doctrine and home rule.
• Land Use: regulatory takings; exclusionary/inclusionary zoning.
• Environmental Law: environmental justice

3. Justice in practice.

• the role of law school clinics/externships.
• the value of the instructor being engaged with public issues.
• field assignments (send your students to a Planning Board meeting to see how the little guy fares).