Law and Justice

Roe Was Never Enough Anyway

It is long past time for law and policy to facilitate affordable and accessible services.

From the Editors: Rethinking Law

In a deeply unequal society, the law can certainly impede progress, but it also remains an essential resource in building a more just world.

What Movements Do to Law

When we think, write, and act alongside movements, we help disrupt the everyday violence of law and imagine more radical transformation.

Why Does the Media Defend Drone Operators?

We don’t need to hear a pilot’s perspective.

122 Immigrants Face the U.S. Death Penalty. Only 2 of Those Sentences Honor International Law.

The far-reaching effects of U.S. noncompliance.

What Will It Take to End Violence Against Native Women?

The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act is an important step, but activist Mary Kathryn Nagle argues that only full restoration of Indigenous sovereignty will stop the epidemic.

Father Knows Best

“Don’t Say Gay” laws can be traced to the Reagan-era crusade to put “parents’ rights” before the interests of children.

On Antitrust, Don’t Take Big Tech’s Word for It

Corporate restructurings are not a cure-all, but they would tilt the balance of power toward ordinary Americans.

Where Egalitarianism Went Wrong

—and what it still has to offer. A reading list on equality, Rawls, and the struggle for a more just world.

Budgeting Justice

Cities must empower historically marginalized communities to shape how public funds are spent.

Is There a Constitutional Right to Sex Work?

The Supreme Court recognizes the right of consenting adults to an erotic life free of state control. Given that, it shouldn’t matter whether sex is your job.

Abortion Is Not a “Choice” Without Racial Justice

After Roe v. Wade, Angela Davis wrote about how the reproductive rights movement was failing women of color. As Roe is dismantled, her diagnosis is more crucial than ever.

The Humanitarian Disgrace of Australia’s Immigration Regime

Twenty years of cruel anti-immigrant policy have left thousands of asylum seekers in limbo, detained in offshore prisons or in mainland commercial hotels.

In Praise of One-Size-Fits-All

Critiques of vaccine mandates continue a neoliberal tradition of idolizing private choice at the expense of the public good.

Why I Provide Abortions

My patients and I don’t use words like “choice” or “viability.”

Competition Is Not the Cure

Monopoly power has certainly harmed workers, but the solution should be a wholesale rethinking of economic policy—not an embrace of perfectly competitive markets.

A Path to Neighborhood Power

Well-meaning nonprofits don’t go far enough in the fight against gentrification. Residents themselves must be in charge, and neighborhood trusts point the way.

Probation Profiteering Is the New Debtors’ Prison

We must end the widespread practice of funding government budgets by extorting poor people apprehended for minor offenses.

Making Communities Safe, Without the Police

Effective responses to violence—preventing it, interrupting it, holding people accountable, and helping people heal—already exist. We need to learn from and invest in them.

Who Owns Our Data?

We need a model of ownership that recognizes our collective interests.

Politics and Prevention

New York State Rifle & Pistol v. Bruen may give the right—and its politics of racial resentment—a major win, at the cost of gun control laws known to prevent shootings.

Guantánamo’s Other History

For decades Haitian migrants have been subjected to brutal mistreatment by the U.S. government, much of it at Cuban detention facilities.

Abortion Is a Public Good

The right to reproductive health and agency is a compelling state interest.

Whose Suffering Matters?

The UN Convention on Refugees gives form to a humanitarian ideal, but states still judge what counts as harm and who deserves protection.

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