Voting Rights and Democracy

Benjamin Geffen is a Senior Attorney at the Public Interest Law Center. He works across several practice areas, including voting rights, public health, and civil rights for people with criminal records. 

Mr. Geffen’s successful cases at the Law Center have included striking down Pennsylvania’s gerrymandered congressional map and its Voter ID law, a class action that restored visitation rights for inmates at the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center, numerous matters protecting children’s access to healthcare and education, and challenges to employment discrimination against people with criminal records. 

Donald P. Harris is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Liaison at Temple University Beasley School of Law.

A specialist in international intellectual property, Dean Harris joined Temple University Beasley School of Law in 2003, and teaches in the areas of intellectual property and commercial law. His courses include: Introduction to Intellectual Property, International Intellectual Property, Patents, and Uniform Commercial Code: Sales. He received his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where he received the dean’s award for outstanding public service and the pro bono service award. Dean Harris also received an LL.M. from the University of Wisconsin, as a Hastie Fellow, specializing in international intellectual property.

Prior to joining Temple, Dean Harris practiced intellectual property law, specializing in patent litigation, as an associate in the San Francisco office of Cooley Godward. Dean Harris has spoken at numerous symposia and colloquia, and has written numerous articles on international intellectual property, including articles discussing the international intellectual property treaty, Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

Jane Manners is a legal historian and an assistant professor of law. She has written on the development of congressional petitioning, early American understandings of the president’s war powers, and the evolution of laws governing officer removal. 

Before joining the Temple Law faculty in 2021, Manners held fellowships at New York University School of Law, the New-York Historical Society, and Columbia Law School. In 2018, she completed her Ph.D. in American history at Princeton University. Her dissertation, Congress and the Problem of Legislative Discretion, 1790-1870, explores the changing logic of congressional decisionmaking over the course of the nineteenth century, focusing on the extent to which concepts we typically associate with courts, such as precedent, legal principle, and vested rights, shaped understandings of legislative power.