Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. She researches and writes about immigration law, citizenship, and immigrant rights, with a specific emphasis on undocumented immigrants. Professor Núñez’s articles have been published in various journals, including the Southern California Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, and the Boston College Law Review. Her most recent scholarship explores the early history of U.S. immigration law, including the era of Chinese exclusion, as a context for analyzing the trajectory of constitutional immigration law. Her commentary on immigration-related current events has appeared in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune, on BYU Radio, and KUER.
Professor Núñez has taught a variety of courses, including Immigration Law, the Plenary Power Colloquium, Immigrant Rights, Torts, and Professional Responsibility. As part of the Law and Social Change Initiative, she works with colleagues to invite speakers, develop courses, and create opportunities for students interested in law’s potential to effect social change and improve lives. Professor Núñez also co-founded the J. Reuben Clark Law School’s Refugee and Immigration Initiative, through which law students provide legal assistance to women and children detained in an immigration detention center in southern Texas. In 2017, second- and third-year law students recognized Professor Núñez as Professor of the Year.
An active member of the legal academy and her local community, Professor Núñez participates in many organizations. She is on the executive committee for the AALS section on immigration law, sits on the governing board of the Utah Center for Legal Inclusion and is the vice chair of the Utah Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
A summa cum laude graduate of the Brigham Young University Law School, Professor Núñez clerked for the Honorable Fortunato P. Benavides of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She subsequently practiced commercial litigation at Stoel Rives LLP in Salt Lake City, Utah, and joined the BYU law faculty in 2008.