Students in the Clinical Law Program successfully completed a long-term drive to amend the New Mexico Constitution to repeal an unconstitutional historical anachronism, the Alien Land Act, a discriminatory provision of New Mexico's Constitution since 1921.
The Alien Land Act prohibited land ownership by all immigrants ineligible for citizenship. This law formalized anti-Japanese immigration sentiment prevalent in the U.S. in the early 20th century.
This matter came to the law school's clinical program as a project of the Southwest Indian Law Clinic, directed by Professor Christine Zuni Cruz. Many students enrolled in the clinic have worked on it over the years.
Nikko Harada, Christopher Frey, John Sugg, Nicholas Marshall, and Adrian Vega, students in Professor Jose L. Martinez's Law Practice Clinic, advocated and wrote op-ed pieces about the legislation. The constitutional repeal provision was placed on the Nov. 7 ballot through the advocacy of students in Professor Carol Suzuki's spring 2005 Community Lawyering Clinic, the Asian American Law Students Association, UNM law professors Rob Schwartz, Chris Fritz and Norman Bay.
State senator Cisco McSorley (`79) sponsored the joint resolution in the Legislature. Evan Blackstone (`04) helped develop the language of the resolution as a member of the Legislative Council Service during the 2005 legislative session.
This matter came to the law school's clinical program as a project of the Southwest Indian Law Clinic, directed by Professor Christine Zuni Cruz (`82). Many students enrolled in the clinic worked on it through the years.