Paula Abrams
Professor of Law

Specialty Areas & Course Descriptions

Constitutional Law I & II, Population Law Seminar, Comparative Constitutional Law (debuting 2006-07)

Academic Credentials

B.G.S. with honors 1974 University of Michigan.
J.D. 1979 University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall).

Professional Background

Professor Abrams worked in Washington, D.C., for the Executive Office of the President, Council on Wage and Price Stability, and later as an attorney for the Office of Legal and Enforcement Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition to private practice she has served as executive director of both the Oregon Judicial Fitness Commission and the Oregon Commission on the Judicial Branch and has published in the area of constitutional law, particularly reproductive rights. Abrams is interested in population policy. Two areas she has researched are the tensions between environmentalist and human rights approaches to population policy and changes to U.S. immigration policy concerning population policy. Recent articles by Professor Paula Abrams include "Population Politics: Reproductive Rights and Asylum Policy," published in the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, and "The Little Red Schoolhouse: Pierce, State Monopoly of Education and the Politics of Intolerance," published in Constitutional Commentary. Professor Abrams is now working on a book on the Pierce case.