Voting: Democracy in Action - Supreme Court Decisions and Democracy

Co-presented with the Prince George's County Office of Human Rights

Join the Prince George’s County Office of Human Rights and the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System in a critical discussion for our time, Voting: Democracy in Action – Supreme Court Decisions and Democracy

Voting: Democracy in Action continues with a deep look at the effects of the recent Supreme Court decisions on democracy, featuring three legal experts from our region: Renée Battle-Brooks, Gabriel Christian, and F. Michael Higginbotham.

Renée Battle-Brooks has spent most of her legal career as a litigator—first as an Assistant Public Defender in Maryland for eight years and as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County, Maryland.  She spent almost 19 years as a prosecutor, specializing for 12 of those years in the prosecution of child abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking crimes. In December 2018, Ms. Battle-Brooks was appointed as the Executive Director of the Prince George’s County Office of Human Rights by County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.  The Office of Human Rights is the County’s civil and human rights education and enforcement agency.  Ms. Battle-Brooks lends her services to community issues and groups, has served on the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault board as President and board member and in her spare time plays violin with various groups and ensembles.  

Gabriel Christian is a highly-skilled veteran trial lawyer attorney and a Georgetown Law School graduate. His areas of legal practice include: Personal Injury Litigation, Criminal Defense, Church and Religious Organizations, International Law, Commercial Law, Business Organizations, Family Law, Personal Injury, Environmental Law, and Sustainable Energy Law.

He is deeply involved in community service, offering his time to the citizens of Maryland, business organizations, religious organizations, the school system, and the Caribbean community. He is an accomplished writer, with public works including In Search of Eden: Dominica, The Travails of a Caribbean Mini-State; Rain on a Tin Roof; Death by Fire – the Explosive Story of the 1962 Carnival Tragedy; For King and Country – The Service and Sacrifice of the Dominican Soldier; For King & Country-The Service and Sacrifice of the British West Indian Military; and Mamo! The Life and Times of Dame Mary Eugenia Charles.

He is a member of J. Franklyn Bourne Bar Association, the Prince George’s County Bar Association, Maryland Bar Association, National Bar Association, Goldstein Inns of Court, Alan J. Goldstein Inns of Court American Bar Association, Dominica Academy of Arts & Sciences, Tuskegee Airmen Association- East Coast Chapter, and is a board member of the Caribbean Research & Policy Center. He was appointed a Judicial Commissioner on the Maryland Courts of Appeals Nomination Commission in 2007 and appointed a Commissioner on the Governor's Commission on Caribbean Affairs in 2012 by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.

F. Michael Higginbotham, Laurence M. Katz Professor of Law and former Interim Dean at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Mr. Higginbotham is the author of Race Law published by Carolina Academic Press in 2001. Now in its fifth edition, the book is widely used in colleges and law schools throughout the United States. His latest book, Ghosts of Jim Crow, was published by NYU Press in 2013. Higginbotham has published numerous articles in journals including the Yale Law and Policy Review, the Harvard Black Letter Law Journal, and the New York University Law Review. He has published numerous editorials in newspapers including the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Baltimore Sun.

Before joining the University of Baltimore in 1988, Higginbotham was a Law Clerk to United States Court of Appeals Judge Cecil Poole, an Associate with Davis Polk, and a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania.  Higginbotham graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1975, received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Brown University in 1979, a Juris Doctor degree from Yale University in 1982, and a Master of Laws degree with honors from Cambridge University in 1985 where he was a Rotary Scholar.