A Journal of Ideas

Civil Rights

Reconstructing Democracy

Might the Trump presidency be propeling us toward a Third Reconstruction?

By K. Sabeel Rahman

Affirmative Action and the Burden of Argument

Some lessons to draw from a scholar of Black Lives Matter, as Trump's Justice Department goes after affirmative action.

By Nathan Pippenger

How Bad Will Trump Be for Civil Rights?

Decades of “door-closing” have restricted citizens’ ability to protect their rights through the legal system. A new piece in The American Prospect shows just how bad it could get.

By Nathan Pippenger

Why Have Miranda Rights Failed?

Fifty years after Miranda v. Arizona, Miranda rights have failed to protect against police coercion. What can we now do to change this?

By Erwin Chemerinsky

The Constrained Court

The Supreme Court looms large in the progressive imagination as the enemy of change. But that fixation overstates its role in our politics.

By Amanda Hollis-Brusky