A Political and Literary Forum
We cannot simply put the past behind us. The framework of transitional justice offers a promising path forward.
Colleen Murphy
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
Our best writing from our archives on why torture is not the same thing as interrogation.
Rosie Gillies, Boston Review
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The Innocence Movement faces a perverse rhetorical puzzle: righting the isolated wrongful conviction only reinforces public faith in the system as a whole.
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