Justice

The public widely opposed wiretapping until the 1970s. What changed?

Did the Confederacy have a constitutional right to secede? And did Lincoln violate the Constitution in forcing them back into the Union and freeing the slaves?

As the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment lapsed in June 1982, the amendment's foes celebrated, while its proponents looked to the future.

At least 20 states have introduced “Don’t Say Gay” laws this year. But in a handful of states, versions of the legislation have existed for decades.

While W. E. B. Du Bois praised an expanding penitentiary system, T. Thomas Fortune called for investment in education and a multiracial, working-class movement.

This post is part of a symposium on “The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution,” a new book by Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath.

Alan Berg was an outspoken radio host known for debating people with racist views. His death in a 1984 shooting uncovered a web of white supremacists.

Rejecting the resignation of the 1970s and ’80s, Robinson found in the disinvested ruins of the city a new egalitarian form of politics.

As baseball celebrates the 75th anniversary of Robinson’s breaking the color line, it’s worth remembering a man at odds with his own myth.

A new book examines the ways white slaveholders were compensated, while formerly enslaved people were not.

Before Colin Kaepernick, Jackie Robinson wrote, ‘I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a Black man in a white world.’

Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is part of a long legacy of anti-gay rhetoric and legislation in the state.

On a broiling summer afternoon in 1978, the Women's Movement held what was then known as the largest parade for feminism in history.

King could not accomplish what philosophers and theologians also failed to—distinguishing moral from immoral law in a polarized society.

Steve Kaslov sought to improve the civic status and rights of Romani people in the United States.

In Early America, some prestigious residents advocated for the replacement of cane sugar, supplied by enslaved workers, with maple sugar from family farms.

The actions of one New Jersey royal governor demonstrate a rare case of impartial justice for Native Americans.

Thousands of Americans die preventable deaths each year. Why do we consider them mishaps?

An overview of historical scholarship and socio-cultural developments in America to explain how racism became institutionalized against Black Americans.

The system's roots aren't in rescuing children, but in the policing of Black, Indigenous, and poor families.

Is the American conception of constitutional rights too absolute?

The newly conservative court may target the decision that allows for a minimum wage.

Why abolitionist Lydia Maria Child raged at President Lincoln’s political calculations.

One focus of the 1960s struggle for civil rights in the North were the construction industries of Philadelphia, New York and Cleveland.

Eavesdropping flourished after WWII, aided by legal loopholes, clever hacks, and “private ears”.

Efforts to roll back abortion and contraception access aim to control women’s sexuality.

The Black feminist collective's 1977 statement has been a bedrock document for academics, organizers and theorists for 45 years.

Research on psychedelics has been riddled with medical racism and exclusion but it hasn’t stopped Black people from finding creativity and solace through drugs.

A few decades ago, the left and the right, politicians and the public, universally embraced the criminalization of drug use. But a new consensus has emerged.

Barbara Ann Richards designed—and then demanded—the life she deserved.