attorneys — Bunk History

Eilhu Root.

The Shameful Imperialist Legacy of Elihu Root, Godfather of Corporate Law

How a celebrated corporate lawyer named Elihu Root became the driving force behind some of the worst U.S. atrocities ever perpetrated abroad.

by Nathan Porceng via Balls And Strikes on March 8, 2023

Constance Motley and Randolph Rankin attending City Hall budget hearing, February 25, 1965

The Legal Mind of Constance Baker Motley

The story of Motley's legal career prior to Brown v. Board, and her crucial participation in it.

by Tomiko Brown-Nagin via Black Perspectives on October 14, 2022

A courtroom in Milwaukee, 1930.

How Did We End Up With Our Current Public Defender System?

Without a more fundamental transformation of criminal law, public defenders often provide only a limited form of equality and fairness before the law.

by Matthew Clair via The Nation on December 14, 2020

The Socialist Origins of Public Defense

The right to public defense wasn’t granted by elites. It was won by socialist-led mass movements.

by Sam Natale, John Sadek via Jacobin on June 25, 2019

Objection

Clarence Darrow’s unfinished work.

by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on May 23, 2011

Civil rights lawyers including Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley.

Trump's Attack on Lawyers and Law Firms Takes a Page Out of the Southern 1950s Playbook

American authoritarians fear the uniquely American power of litigation.

by Sherrilyn Ifill via Sherrilyn's Newsletter on March 24, 2025

Strom Thurmond speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of Ed Carnes' confirmation to the bench.

The Fight for Justice Starts with Blocking Judges Who Are “Tough on Crime”

The story of how Ed Carnes became a judge offers crucial lessons for those who hope to unwind the policies of mass incarceration.

by Robert L. Tsai via Public Books on November 13, 2024

A still from the Apprentice of Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn inside a car.

The Apprenticeship of Donald Trump

A new film examines Trump's formative years under the tutelage of Roy Cohn.

by David Klion via The Nation on October 21, 2024

Fred Grey photographed in front of a book shelf of law books.

The History of Segregation Scholarships

A narrative not of brain drain but of Black aspiration.

by Crystal R. Sanders via HNN on October 15, 2024

C. G. Garrett photographed with five Black contemporaries outside of a building in Columbia, South Carolina.

Riding With Mr. Washington

How my great-grandfather invented himself at the end of Reconstruction.

by David Nicholson via The American Scholar on August 22, 2024

Spectators and witnesses at the trial for a case involving an automobile accident, Oxford, North Carolina, 1939.

A ‘Wary Faith’ in the Courts

A groundbreaking new book demonstrates that even during the days of slavery, African Americans knew a lot more about legal principles than has been imagined.

by Eric Foner via New York Review of Books on March 14, 2024

Antonin Scalia speaking at a Federalist Society event.

How the Federalist Society Conquered the American Legal System

How the Federalist Society became the engine of the conservative legal movement—and where it might be headed next.

by Peter Shamshiri, Rhiannon Hamam, Michael Liroff, Amanda Hollis-Brusky via Balls And Strikes on February 13, 2024

Why the Long Shadow of Bush v. Gore Looms Over the Supreme Court’s Colorado Case

In the fight over keeping Trump’s name on the ballot, the 2000 decision is a warning but not a precedent.

by E. Tammy Kim via The New Yorker on February 7, 2024

1924 map of Baltimore city. An orange circle marks the location of Burton's store

Samuel L. Burton’s Remarkable Comeback Story

In one of the most unique cases in the history of race riots, the African American businessperson sued his birthplace of Onancock, Virginia, in September 1910.

by Emmanuel Mehr via Baltimore Histories Weekly on January 27, 2024

When Constitutional-Law Professors Fight

On the folly of relying on history to settle the debate over whether the Fourteenth Amendment should bar Trump from office.

by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on January 10, 2024

Photo of Donald Trump at a podium and pointing.

The Supreme Court Must Unanimously Strike Down Trump’s Ballot Removal

Excluding him, wrongfully, by a close vote of the Supreme Court could well trigger the next Civil War.

by Lawrence Lessig via Slate on December 20, 2023

Police with face shields in street

Why Aren’t Cops Held to Account?

Decades of Supreme Court decisions have converted qualified immunity from a commonsense rule into a powerful doctrine that deprives people injured by police misconduct of recourse.

by Linda Greenhouse via New York Review of Books on August 30, 2023

Mountain with both living and dead trees.

Did Montana Violate Its Residents’ Right To a Clean Environment?

A new lawsuit builds on 50 years of history in environmental activism.

by Scott Wasserman Stern via Made By History on June 12, 2023

Scale, with pile of U.S. states weighing down one end, and the U.S. on the other.

How a Fringe Legal Theory Became a Threat to Democracy

Lawyers tried to use the independent-state-legislature theory to sway the outcomes of the 2000 and 2020 elections. What if it were to become the law of the land?

by Andrew Marantz via The New Yorker on June 5, 2023

Corporate executives sitting on musicians

Ticketmaster’s Dark History

A 40-year saga of kickbacks, threats, political maneuvering, and the humiliation of Pearl Jam.

by Maureen Tkacik, Krista Brown via The American Prospect on December 21, 2022

The Justice Who Wanted the Supreme Court to Get Out of the Way

Felix Frankfurter warned that politicians, not the courts, should make policy.

by John Fabian Witt via The New Republic on August 26, 2022

Linda Coffee working on the Roe v. Wade case

I Argued Roe v. Wade. It Would Be a Tragedy to Overturn It.

To take away the right to privacy is to take a giant step backward in American history.

by Linda Coffee via The New Republic on May 4, 2022

Image of the nine Scottsboro defendants, policemen, and a defense attorney

Reimagining the Public Defender

For the poor, who are disproportionately people of color, the criminal justice system in the United States is essentially a plea-and-probation system.

by Sarah A. Seo via New York Review of Books on November 11, 2021

The Case Against Humane War

How the turn toward “precision” combat promoted endless war.

by Daniel Bessner via The New Republic on September 8, 2021

The First Hague Conference in 1899: A meeting in the Orange Hall of Huis ten Bosch palace – collections of the Imperial War Museums.

Oh, the Humanity

Yale's John Fabian Witt pens a review of Samuel Moyn's new book, Humane.

by John Fabian Witt via Just Security on September 8, 2021

Members of the Osage Nation standing on the steps of a federal building.

The Disturbing History of How Conservatorships Were Used to Exploit and Swindle Native Americans

The discovery of oil and gas made members of the Osage Nation among the richest people in the world. But it also made them targets for exploitation.

by Andrea Seielstad via The Conversation on August 13, 2021

Illustration of Clarence Thomas in front of factory

The Radicalization of Clarence Thomas

His time working for Monsanto and other polluting industries helped make him the fierce conservative he is today.

by Scott Wasserman Stern via The New Republic on August 13, 2021

U.S. Capitol riot

Echo Chambers

Parallels between the American Revolution and the U.S. Capitol riot.

by Sarah Swedberg via Nursing Clio on August 5, 2021

The Hawaii Supreme Court

The Surprising Honolulu Origins of the National Fight Over Same-Sex Marriage

A local gay rights activist launched a publicity stunt that became so much more. Congress couldn’t help but notice.

by Sasha Issenberg via Politico Magazine on May 31, 2021

The Glorious RBG

I learned, while writing about her, that her precision disguised her warmth.

by Irin Carmon via Intelligencer on September 18, 2020

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