Tiburcio Parrott sitting holding cane
partner

Birth of the Corporate Person

The defining of corporations as legal “persons” entitled to Fourteenth Amendment rights got a leg up from the fight over a California anti-Chinese immigrant law.
Portrait photo of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
partner

Justice Jackson Offered Democrats a Road Map for Securing Equal Rights

Tying the fight for equal rights to the founders and the Constitution has worked before.
U.S. Capitol building

Searching for the Perfect Republic

On the 14th amendment – and if it might stop Trump.
Harry Truman speaking at the 1948 Democratic National Convention.

The 1948 Democratic National Convention Is the Missing Link in Civil Rights History

Civil rights activists failed to expel an all-white, segregationist delegation. But their efforts foreshadowed later milestones in the fight for equality
U.S. Supreme Court building where "Equal Justice Under Law" is written in stone.

The Originalist Case for Affirmative Action?

The argument made recently by Kim Forde-Mazrui may not be in good faith, but it does raise important questions about the meaning of the Constitution.
Collage of Supreme Court and 14th amendment-related images.

Reversing the Legacy of Slaughter-House

A careful examination of the Privileges or Immunities Clause shows what we lost 150 years ago.
Black and white image of Charles Hamilton Houston, standing at a desk alongside other attorneys, circa 1940.

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and the History Behind Colorblind Admissions

Colorblindness has a long history in college admissions, the Black intellectual tradition, and today’s assault on affirmative action and race-conscious policies.
Painting of a person facing another person whose head is made up of sixteen little heads. Untitled (Study) by Geoff McFetridge.

Originalism’s Charade

Two new books make a devastating case against claims that the Constitution should be interpreted on the basis of its purported “original meaning.”
Billboard saying "Welcome to California Where Abortion is Safe and Still Legal"
partner

What Pre-Civil War History Tells Us About the Coming Abortion Battle

Fights over fugitive slave laws pitted states against each other and showcased the risks of the federal government not supporting liberty.
Photo of Hispanic students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance

First Roe, Then Plyler? The GOP’s 40-Year Fight to Keep Undocumented Kids Out of Public School

“The schoolhouse door cannot be closed to one of modern society’s most marginalized, most vilified groups.”
Black and white people sitting at a lunch counter.

When Rights Went Right

Is the American conception of constitutional rights too absolute?
Picture of the U.S. Supreme Court

Reading the 14th Amendment

A review of three books about Abraham Lincoln, the 14th Amendment, and Reconstruction.

How a Thirteen-Year-Old Girl Smashed the Gender Divide in American High Schools

At a time when the US was divided on questions of gender, Alice de Rivera decided that she was fed up with her lousy high school.

Catching Up to Pauli Murray

From today's vantage, the remarkable achievements of the writer and social justice activist are finally coming into focus.

We Should Embrace the Ambiguity of the 14th Amendment

A hundred and fifty years after its ratification, some of its promises remain unfulfilled—but one day it may still be interpreted anew.
Protestor outside the Supreme Court, with a Bible and a sign denouncing bigotry.
partner

Discriminating in the Name of Religion? Segregationists and Slaveholders Did It, Too.

If religious freedom trumps equality under the law, it provides a “cover” that actually encourages discrimination.

To Have and to Hold

Griswold v. Connecticut became about privacy; what if it had been about equality?
partner

Women at Work: A History

Women in the workplace, from 19th century domestic workers to the Rosies of World War II to the labs of Silicon Valley.
A diagram of the parts of a flintlock pistol.

Bad Facts, Bad Law

In a recent Supreme Court oral argument about disarming domestic abusers, originalism itself was put to the test.
A drawing of a woman looking inside the door of a church where children are playing.

The Quiet Revolution of the Sabbath

Requiring rest, rather than work, is still a radical idea.