Donate or Join | Boston Review

A Political and Literary Forum

Menu Search
Donate Shop Join

Law & Justice

Our Broken Constitution

Constitutional crisis won’t be fixed by a few isolated reforms. We need to rethink the Constitution from the ground up.

Mark Tushnet

Read More

Law & Justice

Gender & Sexuality, Law & Justice

‘Flexible’ Family Leave Is Lousy Feminism

Balancing work-life pressures is often considered the holy grail, but men can still opt out of these policies. To move the needle on gender inequality, the state needs to take more coercive action. 

Gina Schouten

Class & Inequality, Law & Justice

The Harvard Ruling Misses the Point

A judge has ruled in favor of Harvard in a high-profile case about affirmative action. But recent admissions scandals all point to a deeper problem—the presumption that elitism could ever be democratized.

Richard Ford

Law & Justice, Reading Lists

The Legality and Reality of Torture

Our best writing from our archives on why torture is not the same thing as interrogation.

Rosie Gillies, Boston Review

Law & Justice

U.S. Judges Admit Enhanced Interrogation Is Torture

They also acknowledged, for the first time, that the grounds for torturing Abu Zubaydah—who was detained in the wake of September 11 and is still languishing in Guantánamo—were mistaken.

Joseph Margulies

Law & Justice

The Metastasis of the Misdemeanor System

The misdemeanor system is four times the size of the felony system. With so many gradations of minor crimes—many involving fines in a very informal process—prejudice and inequality shapes prosecution.

Brandon L. Garrett

Law & Justice

Rethinking Birthright

Amidst chants of “send her back,” it’s clear that we need a more just conception of citizenship—one that abolishes the distinction between “natural” and naturalized citizens.

Stephanie DeGooyer

Law & Justice

How Cars Transformed Policing

Before the mass adoption of the car, most communities barely had a police force and citizens shared responsibility for enforcing laws. Then the car changed everything.

Sarah A. Seo

Class & Inequality, Law & Justice

Solidarity in Silicon Valley

Tech companies have seen waves of worker protest, but they are still far from democratic. The remedy is to build and exert real forms of worker power inside the workplace.

Brishen Rogers

Law & Justice

The Right to Boycott

Since 2014 twenty-seven states have adopted laws that aim to discourage boycotts of Israel. At stake is our First Amendment right to protest state policies.

Radhika Sainath

Law & Justice

What Statistics Can't Tell Us in the Fight over Affirmative Action at Harvard

A group seeking to ban affirmative action has sued Harvard for discriminating against Asian Americans. The core issues won't be resolved by statistics alone.

Andrew Gelman, Sharad Goel, Daniel E. Ho

Law & Justice

Citizenship v. The Surveillance State

We have surrendered the cherished value of “innocent until proven guilty” for the security logic that we are all “risky until proven safe.”

Matthew Longo

Law & Justice

Resisting the Juristocracy

The cult of the higher judiciary had its limits long before the left failed to block Kavanaugh. Now the only progressive move is to reclaim democracy.

Samuel Moyn

Pages

       

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox

Love Boston Review?

Then you’ll love our new membership program! Join us to support engaged discussion on critical issues. You’ll also enjoy exclusive membership benefits.
Get Started

Copyright © 1993-2020 Boston Review and its authors.

Support Boston Review

Become a Member

Make a tax-deductible donation today

Boston Review Printing Note: For best printing results try turning on any options your web browser's print dialog makes available for printing backgrounds and background graphics.

Join the conversation

Subscribe to Our Emails

Confronting the challenges of this moment demands all the moral and deliberative clarity we can muster. While much remains uncertain, Boston Review’s responsibility to public reason is sure. Sign up for our newsletters and don’t miss a thing. 

Support Our Mission