Ezra Rosser
Professor of Law
Office: Room 324
Phone: 202-274-4064
E-mail: erosser@wcl.american.edu
Ezra Rosser joined the WCL faculty in 2006. He has taught Housing Law, Federal Indian Law, Property, and Poverty Law. He has served as a 1665 Fellow at Harvard University, a visiting scholar at Yale Law School, and a Westerfield Fellow at Loyola University New Orleans School of Law. While in law school, he clerked at the DNA-People’s Legal Services, at the Office of Native American Programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and at the Native American Rights Fund.
Currently Teaching
Areas of Specialization
- Poverty Law
- Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples
- Property Law
- Housing Law
Degrees & Universities
- M.Phil, University of Cambridge 2004
- J.D., Harvard Law School 2003
- B.A., Yale University 2000
Selected Publications
- Ezra Rosser, The Ambition and Transformative Potential of Progressive Property, 101 Cal. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2013). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Poverty Offsetting, 6 Harv. L. & Policy Rev. 179 (2012). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Offsetting and the Consumption of Social Responsibility, 89 Wash. U. L. Rev. 27 (2011). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Displacing the Judiciary: Customary Law and the Threat of a Defensive Tribal Council, 34 Am. Indian L. Rev. 379 (2011). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Ahistorical Indians and Reservation Resources, 40 Envtl. L. 43 (2010). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Immigrant Remittances, 41 Conn. L. Rev. 1 (2008). SSRN Link
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More Publications...
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- Ezra Rosser, On Becoming “Professor”: A Semi-Serious Look in the Mirror, 36 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 215 (2009). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Protecting Non-Indians from Harm? The Property Conesquences of Indians, 87 Or. L. Rev. 175 (2008). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Customary Law: The Way Things Were, Codified, 8 Tribal L.J. 18 (2008). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Obligations of Privilege, 32 N.Y.U. Rev. & L. & Soc. Change 1 (2007). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Promises of Non-State Representatives, 116 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 118 (2007).
- Ezra Rosser, Ambiguity and the Academic: The Dangerous Attraction of Pan-Indian Legal Analysis, 119 Harv. L. Rev. F. 141 (2006). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Rural Housing and Code Enforcement: Navigating Between Values and Housing Types, 13 Geo. J. Pov. L. & Policy 33 (2006). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, Caution, Cooperative Agreements, and the Actual State of Things: A Reply to Professor Fletcher, 42 Tulsa L. Rev. 57 (2006). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, The Nature of Representation: The Cherokee Right to a Congressional Delegate, 15 B. U. Pub. Int. L. J. 91 (Fall 2005). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, This Land is My Land, This Land is Your Land: Markets and Institutions for Economic Development on Native American Reservations, 47 Ariz. L. Rev. 245 (2005). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser, The Trade-off Between Self-Determination and the Trust Doctrine: Tribal Government and the Possibilty of Failure, 58 Ark. L. Rev. 291 (2005). SSRN Link
- Ezra Rosser & S. James Anaya, Systemas de Justicia Indígena y Derecho Consuetudinario en Los Estados Unidos de América: Entre Colonización y Autodeterminación, in Caminos Hacia el Reconocimiento: Pueblos Indígenas, Derechos y Pluralismo (Marco Aparicio Wilhelmi, ed., 2005).
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Selected Presentations- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, The Influence of External Law on Navajo Norm Adaptation and Institutional Development (Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Hilton Head, S.C., July 2011).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, The Latin American Dream (LatCrit South-North Exchange: Migratory Currents in the Americas, Univ. Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep., May 2011).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Regulating Poverty Offsetting (Faculty Colloquium Series, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo., Apr. 2011).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Strategies for Poverty Offsetting (Academics Stand Against Poverty Launch Conference, Yale University, New Haven, Conn., Apr. 2011).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Worker Exploitation and the Possibility of Poverty Offsetting (Theology of Work and the Dignity of Workers, St. John’s University School of Law, Queens, N.Y., Mar. 2011).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, The Limits of (Progressive) Property (Association for Law, Property and Society Annual Meeting, Georgetown Law Center, D.C., Mar. 2011).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Children’s Consumption of Migration: Remittances and Food Security (U. N. World Food Program Conference on Food Security and International Migration, Reno, Nev., Sept. 2010).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Federal Trust versus Federal Oversight of Indian Nations: The Promise and Pitfalls of Federal Disentanglement from Reservation Life (Federalism and the Relational Dimension of Indigenous Governance, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Can., Mar. 2010).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Customary Property Rights and Navajo Grazing Regulation (Association for Law, Property and Society Annual Meeting, Georgetown Law Center, D.C., Mar. 2010).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Tribes versus Environmentalists/Environmentalists versus Tribes (Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, Oregon School of Law, Eugene, Or., Feb. 2010).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Conceptions of the Good: Customary Law and the Tension Between Collective and Individual Rights (Custom, Law, and Tradition: Alternative Legal Systems and Their Impact on Human Rights, American University Washington College of Law, D.C., Feb. 2010).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, New Institutional Economics and Good Governance Promotion (Symposium: A Changing of the Guard: The Future of International Law and Development under Obama, University of North Carolina School Of Law, Chapel Hill, N.C., Jan. 2010).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Remittances and Poverty (LatCrit XIV, American University Washington College of Law, D.C., Oct. 2009).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Poverty Credits,” Building the Unsettling Force: A National Conference to End Poverty (Sponsored by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign and the Social Welfare Action Alliance, Louisville, Ky., July 2009).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Market Failure and Individual Responsibility (Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Denver, Co., May 2009).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Economic Development on Native American Reservations: Impact of the Current Economic Crisis (Securities and Exchange Commission, Wash., D.C., Mar. 2009).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Ahistorical Indians and Reservation Resources (18th Navajo Studies Conference, Diné College, Shiprock, N.M., Mar. 2009).
- Ezra Rosser, Keynote Speaker, Public Interest, Individual Responsibility, and Markets (22nd Annual Robert M. Cover Public Interest Law Retreat, Peterborough, N.H., Feb. 2009).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Anticipating de Soto: 200 Years of ‘Civilizing’ Native Americans through Imposition of Land-Titling (AALS Annual Meeting 2009, San Diego, Cal., Jan. 2009).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Empirical Analysis of the Effect of Tribal Ownership of Land on Non-Indians (The Public Nature of Private Law Conference, Georgetown Law Center, Wash., D.C., Nov. 2008).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Rethinking Representation in Light of Indigenous Rights and Demands (LatCrit XIII, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, Wash., Oct. 2, 2008).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Poverty Off-Sets (Critical Legal Conference 2008, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scot., Sept. 2008).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, The Effect of Indian Ownership on Non-Indian Property Owners (DU-CU Indian Law Works in Progress Symposium, University of Colorado Law School, Boulder, Colo., Aug. 2008).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, DU-CU Indian Law Works in Progress Symposium, University of Colorado Law School, (Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, Anchorage, Alaska, July 2008).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Environmental Degradation as an Anti-Poverty Program of Indian Nations (Valparaiso School of Law, Valparaiso, Ind., Apr. 2008).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, The Property Consequences of Disruptive Indians (Junior Property Scholars Works-In-Progress Conference, Widener University School of Law, Wilmington, Del., Feb. 2008).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Remittances (Faculty Workshop, Georgetown Law Center, Georgetown University, Wash., D.C., Feb. 2008).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Integración económica al nivel de las familias pobres: el poder y los límites de las remesas (CLASCO-CROP Seminario Internacional: Pobreza, integración económica y comercio internacional, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Quito, Ecu., Nov. 2007).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Development, Freedom, and Immigrant Remittances (Fourth Annual Gloucester Summer Legal Conference, University of Gloucester, U.K., July 2007).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Protecting Non-Indians From Harm (Emerging Indian Law Scholars Roundtable, Lewis & Clark Law School, July 2007).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Hermanos Cercanos: Improving Regulation and Competition in the Remittance Market (Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Amelia Island, Fla., July 2007).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Obligations of Privilege (Conference on Value Inquiry: Social Justice and Individual Responsibility, Adrian College, Adrian, Mich., Apr. 2007).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Cooperation in the Shadow of Conquest (Cornell University Law School, Ithaca, N.Y., Mar. 2007).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Obligations of Privilege (Association for the Study of Law, Culture & Humanities Hosted by Georgetown University Law Center, Wash., D.C., Mar. 2007).
- Ezra Rosser & Eduardo Pezo, Presentation, Policing Spending: (Im)Proper Regulation of Remittances (Interrogating Diversity Conference, Hosted by American University Department of Anthropology, Wash., D.C., Mar. 2007).
- Ezra Rosser, Presentation, Competitive Remittance Mechanisms (Congreso Internacional Sobre Migraciones (International Migration Conference), Hosted by Universidad Centroamericana, San Salvador, El. Sal., Oct. 2006).
- Ezra Rosser, Speech, Legal Barriers to Indian Housing Development (National American Indian Housing Council Legal Symposium, Las Vegas, Nev., Dec. 2005).
- Ezra Rosser, Panelist, Homelessness and Poverty: The Effects of Katrina and Beyond (Emory Law Public Interest Law Conference, Emory Law School, Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 2005).
- Ezra Rosser, Speech, The Last Unbroken Treaty Promise in an Indian Treaty: The Cherokke Right to a Congressional Delegate (Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, Nev., June 2005).
- Ezra Rosser, Speech, International Humanitarian Law (Public Health Seminar, Tulane University, New Orleans, La., June 2005).
- Ezra Rosser, Speech, Building Codes in Rual Areas: Two Southwest Case Studies (Western Social Science Association 47th Annual Conference, Albuquerque, N.M., Apr. 2005).
- Ezra Rosser, Speech, This Land is My Land, This Land is Your Land: Markets and Instutions for Economic Development on Native American Reservations (New Voices in Indigenous Research Conference, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal., Mar. 2005).
- Ezra Rosser, Speech, Building Codes in Rual Areas: Usage, Signifigance, and Policy (International Conference on Social Science Research, New Orleans, La., Nov. 2004).
- Ezra Rosser, Speech, Customary Law: The Way Things Were, Codified (Maintaining Connections, Natives in Academia: Community, Activism, and Responsibiliy, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., Nov. 2004).
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Selected Media Appearances- Letter to the Editor, "A Healthy Initiative? Or a Nanny State" (N.Y. Times Co. Oct. 11, 2010) (Newspaper).
- New York Daily News, "New York City Rescue Mission Looking to Expand Aid to Homeless" (N.Y. Daily News Jan. 3, 2009) (Interview).
- Letter to the Editor, "Anti-Immigrant Fallout" (N.Y. Times Co. Nov. 21, 2008) (Newspaper).
Related Links
- Poverty law at http://maximinlaw.wordpress.com/
Professor Rosser's blog


