The American University law professor offers a guide for activists, lawyers, public officials, and citizens that identifies innovative use of American legal ideas to pursue equality and promote fairness, justice, and free speech. "A path-breaking account of how Americans have used innovative legal measures to overcome injustice--and an indispensable guide to pursuing equality in our time. Equality is easy to grasp in theory but often hard to achieve...

"Over the last two decades, the Supreme Court has increasingly turned to the concept of animus to explain why some instances of discrimination are unconstitutional. However, the Court's condemnation of animus fails to address some serious questions. How can animus on the part of people and institutions be uncovered? Does mere opposition to a particular group's equality claims constitute animus? Does the concept of animus have roots in the Constitution?...

""Jacqueline Bravo can't understand why she's being called to the principal's office and is shocked to learn her mother hasn't paid her tuition at St. Bernadette High School in three months! Now Sister Mary Grace is threatening to kick her out and even recommends a vocational school until she gets married. Finances have been tight ever since Jacqui's father was killed in Vietnam. She is determined to win the alumni scholarship to UCLA, and there's...

Describes the fierce battle that erupted in post-Civil War America over the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, the implications of the revolutionary addition to the U.S. Constitution, and the colorful cast of characters involved--including Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, Frederick Douglass, and Susan B. Anthony. "The last battle of the Civil War wasn't fought at Appomattox by dashing generals or young soldiers but by middle-aged men in frock...

"In this controversial and provocative book, Mary Anne Franks examines the thin line between constitutional fidelity and constitutional fundamentalism. The Cult of the Constitution reveals how deep fundamentalist strains in both conservative and liberal American thought keep the Constitution in the service of white male supremacy. Constitutional fundamentalists read the Constitution selectively and self-servingly. Fundamentalist interpretations of...

From 1953 to 1969, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren brought about many of the proudest achievements of American constitutional law. The Warren declared racial segregation and laws forbidding interracial marriage to be unconstitutional; it expanded the right of citizens to criticize public officials; it held school prayer unconstitutional; and it ruled that people accused of a crime must be given a lawyer even if they can't afford...

Tensions between religious freedom and equality law are newly strained in America. As lawmakers work to protect LGBT citizens and women seeking reproductive freedom, religious traditionalists assert their right to dissent from what they see as a new liberal orthodoxy. Some religious advocates are going further and expressing skepticism that egalitarianism can be defended with reasons at all. Legal experts have not offered a satisfying response-until...

"This picture book biography in verse tells the story of Mary Hamilton, an African American woman and Civil Rights activist, who was found to be in contempt of court when she would not respond to questions from an Alabama judge who used only her first name, while calling white people "Mr.," "Mrs.," or "Miss." The NAACP took her case, which appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court, which ruled in Mary Hamilton's favor." --

"Find out how political status and the way we talk about it affect lives in the Latinx community. This title explores the nature of migration, its role in the history of civilization, and the rights and dignity inalienable to all people. The Racial Justice in America: Latinx American series explores the issues specific to the Latinx community in a comprehensive, honest, and age-appropriate way. This series was written by Brenda Mendoza, an author,...

"While America incarcerates its poor and minority citizens at an unparalleled rate, the nation has never developed the capacity to consistently prosecute corporate wrongdoing. This book unearths the intertwined history of these phenomena, revealing that they constitute more than modern hypocrisy. By examining the development of the carceral and regulatory states from 1870 through today, Anthony Grasso shows that America's divergent treatments of street...