Drawing the Line: Law, Access, and the Boundaries of the Common

Who gets access to resources, and who decides where the boundaries are drawn? This graduate workshop brings together two papers exploring how law, ownership, and political institutions shape questions of access and belonging. Abbie LeBlanc examines the commodification of the Moon, tracing how ideas of property and profit shape our relationship to outer space. Lauren Elizabeth Lee explores how citizenship and immigration status determine access to healthcare across four countries. Together, the papers invite discussion on how boundaries are created, justified, and challenged, while raising broader questions about what it means to treat something as a shared resource or a universal right.
Register to receive papers and Zoom link if joining virtually.
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Abbie LeBlanc a political theorist with broad research and teaching interest in the history of political thought, from antiquity to the 20th century, especially theories of sovereignty, empire, and Indigenous political theory. She is a PhD Candidate at Harvard University, and will defend her dissertation in May 2027. Her current research project is an intellectual history of voyage to the Moon.
Lauren Elizabeth Lee (Perelman School of Medicine & Penn Carey Law, University of Pennsylvania) studies how chronic kidney disease affects heart metabolism and function. Beyond the lab, she has expanded upon her research interests at Penn Carey Law, where she currently focuses on how high-income countries leverage the legal status of noncitizens to ration access to health care. Outside of lab, she is proud Point Breeze resident with her husband and large cat, and enjoys runs on the SRT and Wissahickon.