Heidi Li Feldman

Heidi Li Feldman (@HeidiLiFeldman) is Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, with a courtesy appointment in the Philosophy Department at Georgetown University. Her scholarly expertise includes torts, constitutional torts, products liability, legal theory, political philosophy, ethics, and epistemology. She has written about the unlawfulness of the Trump administration’s policy and practice of family separation; the significance of state tort and consumer protection law in holding gun manufacturers accountable for damages caused by their design and marketing practices; the affirmative obligation elected officials have to listen widely; how lawyers should respond to mendacity in politics, and whether and how U.S. municipalities can strengthen civil society; objectivity; the relationship between law and science in the context of uncertainty; virtue ethics and legal ethics; the role of the virtues in negligence law. Dr. Feldman seeks to bring her knowledge of U.S. law, politics and history to a broad public and to bring a grassroots perspective to the legal academy. She has been quoted by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, and CBS News and has appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. Extensive interviews with her have aired on CBC (Canadian) radio and television. Dr. Feldman earned both her J.D. and her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan. She joined the Georgetown University Law Center faculty in 1998.

Articles by this author:

Families sit and lie in overcrowded cells without privacy. Many individuals huddle in thin metallic emergency blankets as bedding. Barbed wire fencing serves as walls.

Holding DHS Accountable for a Child’s Death in the Custody of Border Patrol

Dec. 9, 2019 Carrie Cordero, Heidi Li Feldman and 1 more

Honduran father Juan and his six-year-old son Anthony walk on their way to attend Sunday Mass on September 9, 2018 in Oakland, California. They fled their country and crossed the U.S. border at a lawful port of entry in Brownsville, Texas seeking asylum. They were soon separated and spent the next 85 days apart in detention. Juan was sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma, while his son was sent to a detention shelter New York. Juan said it took six weeks from the time of separation until he was able to make a phone call to his son.

Assessing the Legal Landscape of Family Separation in the Immigration Context

Oct. 25, 2019 Carrie Cordero, Heidi Li Feldman and 1 more