Khiara M. Bridges is a professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law. She has written many articles concerning race, class, reproductive rights, and the intersection of the three. Her scholarship has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, the California Law Review, the NYU Law Review, and the Virginia Law Review, among others. She is also the author of three books: Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization (2011), The Poverty of Privacy Rights (2017), and Critical Race Theory: A Primer (2019). She is a coeditor of a reproductive justice book series that is published under the imprint of the University of California Press.
She graduated as valedictorian from Spelman College, receiving her degree in three years. She received her J.D. from Columbia Law School and her Ph.D., with distinction, from Columbia University’s Department of Anthropology. While in law school, she was a teaching assistant for the former dean, David Leebron (Torts), as well as for the late E. Allan Farnsworth (Contracts). She was a member of the Columbia Law Review and a Kent Scholar. She speaks fluent Spanish and basic Arabic, and she is a classically trained ballet dancer.
Education
B.A., summa cum laude, Spelman College
J.D., Columbia Law School
Ph.D., with distinction, Columbia University
Khiara Bridges is teaching the following course in Spring 2023:
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title | Fall 2022 | 230 sec. 003 | Criminal Law | 281.9 sec. 001 | Reproductive Rights and Justice |
|---|
When Did “Woke” Lose Its Meaning & How Do We Get It Back?
“Slang amongst Black people is a love language and I am frustrated when that slang becomes appropriated and used by others and the meaning morphs,” said Khiara M. Bridges, author and professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law. “There’s something really sinister about this term not only being taken from us but also deployed against us. It’s a double violation.”
Dobbs and Judges, Summing Up 2022
Berkeley Law Professor Khiara M. Bridges discusses the biggest takeaways from 2022 and what to expect in 2023.
Rare Feat: Berkeley Law Students Present Their Research at Major International Forum
Selected to discuss their work at the recent event in Miami, where the vast majority of presenters were faculty scholars, “is a big deal,” says Professor Katerina Linos.
Professor Khiara M. Bridges Pens Harvard Law Review Foreword on ‘Race in the Roberts Court’
The current U.S. Supreme Court majority, Bridges argues, only remedies racism against people of color when it encounters something that resembles the pre-civil rights era, from poll taxes to eugenics.
Standing Firm: How Berkeley Law Faculty and Students are Stepping Up to Advance and Defend Basic Rights
With basic rights in peril at home and around the world, the law school community is answering the call.
Jay Caspian Kang and Khiara Bridges headline Berkeleyside’s first Idea Makers evening
UC Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges was a guest speaker at the inaugural Berkeleyside Idea Makers event where she spoke about the movement for reproductive justice and the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson.
Living in a Post-Roe America with Khiara Bridges
UC Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges discusses what’s at stake for Black communities following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
The Supreme Court Is Blowing Up Law School, Too
“The court is not going to save us. It is going to let Trump do whatever he wants to do. And it’s going to help him get away with it,” said Professor Khiara M. Bridges in response to the court’s decision on Trump v. Hawaii.
A Little Bit Pregnant
Professor Khiara M. Bridges discusses the “period pill.”
Khiara M. Bridges Testifies Before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
On July 12, Professor Khiara M. Bridges testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee about the fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. Bridges’ exchanges with several senators, particularly Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, drew extensive media coverage.
Explainer: What’s Next for Abortion Pills After the Fall of Roe
“It’s up to states, really, as to how they want to go about making abortion unacceptable,” Professor Khiara M. Bridges says, predicting the argument over whether the federal government can protect access to abortion pills, particularly mifepristone, “a long-term battle.”
Some Americans are Offering to Help Others Travel Out of State for an Abortion. But in a Post-Roe Era, Experts Urge Caution
The Supreme Court Is Keeping Trump’s Promises
“It’s so disingenuous to say that we’re just going to allow political majorities in the state to determine the legality of abortion when not everybody in the state is going to be able to vote because of what Republicans are doing and because of what the Court is allowing them to do,” Professor Khiara M. Bridges says. “Our democracy is undeserving of that label.”
The Religious Right Mobilized to End Roe. Now What?
Professor Khiara M. Bridges talks about the racial dynamics of the fight over abortion, and how they shaped the events that led to the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade.
‘We Will Fight Like Hell’: California Reacts to Supreme Court’s Decision
Professor Khiara M. Bridges says the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade presents an imperative for California to “be on the offensive” but putting additional money and effort into ensuring its residents, and those coming from the outside to receive care, can access contraceptives and abortion services. “When you have a law that makes abortion unavailable, you have a law that makes unavailable a service upon which Black people disproportionately rely, so there’s a specific racial impact,” she says, noting that Black people have not only higher rates of unintended pregnancy but also higher rates of maternal mortality and morbidity.
Professor Khiara M. Bridges: Court Abortion Ruling Is an Assault on Women — and Democracy
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing many states to end or sharply curtail abortion rights will have profoundly harmful effects on those who are forced to continue unwanted pregnancies and on democracy itself, says Berkeley Law scholar.
Garland Signals Brewing Battle With GOP-Led States Over Access to Abortion Pills
“There’s an open legal question about whether states could limit the use of mifepristone in light of the FDA’s judgment that the medicine is safe and effective. It’s not at all clear,” Professor Khiara M. Bridges says. “States can regulate the practice of medicine within their borders.”
Birth Control Restrictions Could Follow Abortion Bans, Experts Say
Professor Khiara M. Bridges says the Supreme Court’s recent decisions have sent a message to conservative state lawmakers that it won’t stand in the way of laws restricting birth control methods. “It’s all of the implications of the Dobbs decision that make us reasonable to be fearful about the accessibility of contraception in the future,” she says.
Q&A: If Abortion Is Illegal, What Happens Next?
Professor Khiara M. Bridges and NPR reporter Sarah McCammon answer listener questions about what a post Roe v. Wade world might look like.
Abortion, Climate, Guns, and Religion: Supreme Court Poised for a Sharp Right Turn
Four Berkeley Law professors, including Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, discuss the court’s anticipated conservative decisions on some of America’s most divisive issues.