Sam Erman

Sam Erman joined USC Gould School of Law as an Assistant Professor of Law from the Smithsonian Institution where he served as a Latino studies postdoctoral fellow.

Erman’s primary areas of research include the history of Puerto Rico and its relations with the United States. His dissertation, Puerto Rico and the Constitution: Struggles around Status and Governance in a New Empire, 1898-1925 examines closely the United States’ promise of citizenship to Puerto Rico.

In 2012 Erman served as a visiting professor of criminal law at Peking University School of Transactional Law. He also worked as a graduate student instructor in the University of Michigan’s program in American culture. He co-designed and assisted in teaching an undergraduate seminar on The Boundaries of Citizenship: From Dred Scott to Plessy for the University of Michigan’s History Department.

Prior to his fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, Erman was a Raoul-Berger-Mark DeWolfe Howe Legal History Fellow at Harvard Law School. He clerked for Judge John Paul Stevens and Judge Anthony M. Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court and Judge Merrick B. Garland of the United States Court of Appeals.

He received his JD from the University of Michigan Law School, summa cum laude, and his PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan. He completed his AB in English at Harvard College, cum laude.

Works in Progress

• Puerto Rico and the Constitution: Struggles Around Status and Governance in the New Empire, 1891-1925 (In-progress book manuscript revised and expanded from Puerto Rico and the Promise of United States Citizenship: Struggles Around Status in a New Empire, 1898-1917 (2010) (Ph.D. dissertation)).

Articles and Book Chapters

• "Reconstruction and Empire: Legacies of the U.S. Civil War and Puerto Rican Struggles for Home Rule, 1898-1917," (Under consideration by Law and History Review). - (SSRN)
• “Citizens of Empire: Puerto Rico, Status, and Constitutional Change,” 102 California Law Review 1181 (October 2014). - (SSRN)
• "Affirmative Meritocracy," 7 Social Issues and Policy Review (with Walton, G., and Spencer, S.) (forthcoming 2013).
• "Meanings of Citizenship in the U.S. Empire: Puerto Rico, Isabel Gonzalez, and the Supreme Court, 1898-1905," 27 Journal of American Ethnic History 5 (2008) (Received the Carlton C. Qualey Memorial Article Award: The best article published in the Journal of American Ethnic History during the past two years). - (www)
• "An 'Unintended Consequence': Dred Scott Reinterpreted," 106 Michigan Law Review 1157 (2008) (reviewing Austin Allen, Origins of the Dred Scott Case (2006)). - (Hein)
• Note, "Word Games: Raising and Resolving the Shortcomings in Accident-Insurance Doctrine that Autoerotic-Asphyxiation Cases Reveal," 103 Michigan Law Review 2172 (2005). - (Hein)

Other Works

• Citizens of Empire: Federico Degetau, Puerto Rican Status, and the U.S. Order, 1898-1905 (manuscript).

Dissertation

• Puerto Rico and the Promise of United States Citizenship: Struggles Around Status in a New Empire, 1898-1917 (Ph.D. dissertation). - (www)

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

The Washington Post
March 20, 2019
Re: Ariela Gross

Ariela Gross was quoted on the appointment of Carol Folt as USC's new president. “It’s a great choice,” she said. “I think at Chapel Hill, Carol Folt showed herself to be a person of great integrity, someone with moral leadership, someone who wasn’t afraid to get out in front of issues — and also a really caring leader and teacher who worked with students and with faculty in an educational community.”

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Emily Ryo
January, 2019

Emily Ryo was a discussant for "Harsh Realities: Treatment of Detained Asylum Seekers in the U.S." which was part of Diversity and Inclusion Week at USC Gould School of Law.

Thomas D. Lyon
January, 2019

"Younger and Older Adults’ Lie-detection and Credibility Judgments of Children’s Coached Reports" (with Alison M. O’Connor & Angela D. Evans)  Psychology, Crime, & Law.

Gregory Keating
January, 2019

"Recognizing Wrongs: Philosophy of Tort Law," Jurisprudence Panel 2, AALS 2019 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.