New! H2O now has access to new and up-to-date cases via CourtListener and the Caselaw Access Project. Click here for more info.

Main Content

Casebook Credits History Find
Asian Americans and U.S. Law (Tanaka)
First published Jan 2023 and updated Feb 2023

Adapted by Marina Hsieh for Santa Clara University School of Law, spring 2023

These materials are a work-in-progress which will evolve with the interests of the seminar and contemporary developments such as the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in OT 2022.

        These materials introduce the historical and ongoing interplay of U.S. law and policy and Asians, citizen and non-citizen, in the United States. They examine the Asian experience in the United States at various points in history, with units focusing on 19th and 20th century immigration laws; World War II; equal protection; and 21st Century contemporary issues. Themes of discrimination (including the interconnection of laws relating to Asians and other racial and ethnic minorities), advocacy and agency, and redress run through all of the units.  

        This casebook would not be possible without the generous labor of Elizabeth Tanaka and her research assistants who created the original and revised versions of this casebook to support a 2022 course at Yale Law School and a 2023 course at Quinnipiac University School of Law. Thanks are also due to the Center on Asian Americans and the Law at Fordham University School of Law for their dedication to bringing together educators to collaborate and teach about past and present AAPI interactions with law and legal institutions.