Legal Theory Blog

Legal Theory Bookworm: "Agency, Morality and Law" by Jowitt

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Agency, Morality and Law by Joshua Jowitt.  Here is a description:

How does law possess the normative force it requires to direct our actions?

This book argues that this seemingly innocuous question is of central importance to the philosophy of law and, by extension, of the very concept of law itself. It advances a position grounded in the secular natural law tradition, and in doing so addresses the two success criteria for this position head on:

Firstly, that commitment to the existence of a supreme moral principle is required;
Secondly, that any supreme moral principle must be identifiable through human reason.

The book argues that these conditions are met by Alan Gewirth's Principle of Generic Consistency (PGC), which – through a dialectically necessary argument – locates the existence of universally applicable moral norms in the concept of agency. Given the very purpose of law is to guide action, legal norms must be located in a unified hierarchy of practical reason. It follows that, if law is to succeed in claiming to be capable of guiding our action, moral permissibility with reference to the PGC is a necessary condition of a rule's legal validity.

This strong theory of natural law is defended throughout, both against moral sceptics and positions within contemporary legal positivism.

Legal Theory Bookworm: "Completing Humanity" by Özsu

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Completing Humanity: The International Law of Decolonization, 1960–82 by Umut Özsu.  Here is the abstract:

After the Second World War, the dissolution of European empires and emergence of 'new states' in Asia, Africa, Oceania, and elsewhere necessitated large-scale structural changes in international legal order. In Completing Humanity, Umut Özsu recounts the history of the struggle to transform international law during the twentieth century's last major wave of decolonization. Commencing in 1960, with the General Assembly's landmark decolonization resolution, and concluding in 1982, with the close of the third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea and the onset of the Latin American debt crisis, the book examines the work of elite international lawyers from newly independent states alongside that of international law specialists from 'First World' and socialist states. A study in modifications to legal theory and doctrine over time, it documents and reassesses post-1945 decolonization from the standpoint of the 'Third World' and the jurists who elaborated and defended its interests.

And from the reviews:

‘In this study of the many initiatives of Third World states commencing in the 1960s, Özsu provides a vivid account of the personalities involved, the projects they inaugurated, and the battles fought over the meaning and direction of international law. What emerges is a masterly history of the ‘international law of decolonization’, a rich and valuable addition to the literature on a topic that is finally receiving the attention it deserves.' Tony Anghie, National University of Singapore

‘In this history of the Third World's bid to transform international law, Özsu illustrates why the law was such an important arena for political struggle, tracks the expansive visions of an international legal order pioneered by lawyers from the global South, and makes clear how the struggles of the past remain with us in the present. Written with clarity and precision, Completing Humanity is an important contribution to the growing scholarship on decolonization.' Adom Getachew, University of Chicago

‘In his stunning and unprecedented book, Umut Özsu describes the ambition and breadth of the decolonizing agenda ― and why international law mattered so much to it – while probing the impasses, limits, and resistance that foiled it. An accessible and dramatic story, Completing Humanity is based on exemplary learning and overflowing with insight and provocation: the most significant and sophisticated contribution to the history of international law written in many years.' Samuel Moyn, Yale University

‘This is a gripping new take on the relationship between the historical process of decolonization and international law. Özsu focuses on five key debates in international law which hold at their heart the struggle between those who seek to move beyond the tragic legacies of empire, and those who benefit from those legacies. The book offers a sustained engagement with a panoply of eminent and courageous jurists from the South, their allies, interlocutors, and rivals. The thoughtful alignment between orientation, method, and structure is a model for scholars of all stripes.' Sundhya Pahuja, University of Melbourne

Legal Theory Bookworm: "The Court v. The Voters" by Douglas

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends The Court v. The Voters: The Troubling Story of How the Supreme Court Has Undermined Voting Rights on SSRN. Here is a description:

An urgent and gripping look at the erosion of voting rights and its implications for democracy, told through the stories of 9 Supreme Court decisions—and the next looming case

In The Court v. The Voters, law professor Joshua Douglas takes us behind the scenes of significant cases in voting rights—some surprising and unknown, some familiar—to investigate the historic crossroads that have irrevocably changed our elections and the nation. In crisp and accessible prose, Douglas tells the story of each case, sheds light on the intractable election problems we face as a result, and highlights the unique role the highest court has played in producing a broken electoral system.

Douglas charts infamous cases like:

• • Bush v. Gore, which opened the door to many election law claims
  • Citizens United, which contributed to skewed representation—but perhaps not in the way you might think
  • Shelby County v. Holder, which gutted the vital protections of the Voting Rights Act
  • Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board, which allowed states to enforce voter ID laws and make it harder for people to vote

The Court v. The Voters powerfully reminds us of the tangible, real-world effects from the Court’s voting rights decisions. While we can—and should—lament the democracy that might have been, Douglas argues that we can—and should—double down in our efforts to protect the right to vote.

And from the reviews:

“A solid argument for judicial reform—and if not that, bypassing the Supreme Court whenever possible.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“[A] full-throated critique . . . This granular analysis, though somewhat speculative since it relies on reading between the lines, adds up to a shockingly convincing explanation of the Court’s motives. Douglas brings the receipts.”
—Publishers Weekly

“In this incisive, eloquent, and important book, Joshua Douglas has the receipts—and a warning about what the Court might do to us next.”
—Adam Cohen, author of Supreme Inequality

“An important guide for all who want to protect and advance American democracy.”
—E. J. Dionne Jr., author of Why Americans Hate Politics

“The crucial and compelling story of how the most undemocratic branch of the US government has been chipping away at voting rights protections and election law fairness.”
—Jennifer Frost, author of “Let Us Vote!”

“Saving our democracy requires taking the lessons of this book, and its recommendations, very seriously.”
—Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law

“A readable field guide to Citizens United, Bush v. Gore, and other notorious election cases that is sure to edify and disturb the curious reader.”
—Richard L. Hasen, author of A Real Right to Vote

“Douglas expertly explains and demystifies urgent topics all Americans need to know and understand: how the Supreme Court spent decades chip¬ping away at voting rights, and what our country can do now to repair the damage.”
—Erin Geiger Smith, author of Thank You for Voting

“These cases are necessary for understanding where we are, and Doug¬las has offered clarifying explanations of their continued relevance to our country’s modern struggles.”
—Jessica Huseman, editorial director of Votebeat

“The Court v. The Voters is required reading for anyone concerned about the future of American democracy. Douglas removes legalese, uses compelling and accessible human stories, and connects the dots to show how an activist US Supreme Court is complicit in dismantling democracy by making up new rules that allow politicians to entrench themselves and suppress the voices of voters.”
—Spencer Overton, author of Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression

“Citizens who want to understand the constitutional rules around voting often feel like people entering a play halfway through—the main players throw around case names and doctrines that are unfamiliar and confusing, and ordinary readers get the message that they are outsiders at their own elections. Joshua Douglas, who has devoted his career to understanding election law—and reforming it so that all Americans can vote—here untangles the plot of the play and explains in clear, nontechnical language how we got to the present mess and how We the People can get out of it.”
—Garrett Epps, author of American Epic: Reading the U.S. Constitution

“Most people who care about our democracy are not scholars or legal experts. That is why this work by Joshua Douglas is so pivotal. He writes in a way that allows anyone to digest the sometimes complex and confusing interplay between the legal and political worlds. This work allows us to easily follow along as Joshua makes a compelling argument that forces us to pay closer attention to the courts and understand its impact on our democracy.”
—Desmond Meade, author of Let My People Vote

“In this thought-provoking and timely book, Joshua Douglas examines how the Supreme Court’s anti-democratic rulings over the past fifty years created a broken electoral system that helped lay the foundation for our current political woes. By profiling the seminal election law cases that demonstrate the Court’s complicity in our decline, this book is a must-read for all who worry about the future of American democracy.”
—Franita Tolson, interim dean, USC Gould School of Law

Legal Theory Bookworm: "Unjust Debts" by Jacoby

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Unjust Debts: How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal by Melissa B. Jacoby. Here is a description:

Bankruptcy is the busiest federal court in America. In theory, bankruptcy in America exists to cancel or restructure debts for people and companies that have way too many—a safety valve designed to provide a mechanism for restarting lives and businesses when things go wrong financially.

In this brilliant and paradigm-shifting book, legal scholar Melissa B. Jacoby shows how bankruptcy has also become an escape hatch for powerful individuals, corporations, and governments, contributing in unseen and poorly understood ways to race, gender, and class inequality in America. When cities go bankrupt, for example, police unions enjoy added leverage while police brutality victims are denied a seat at the negotiating table; the system is more forgiving of civil rights abuses than of the parking tickets disproportionately distributed in African American neighborhoods. Across a broad range of crucial issues, Unjust Debts reveals the hidden mechanisms by which bankruptcy impacts everything from sexual harassment to health care, police violence to employment discrimination, and the opioid crisis to gun violence.

In the tradition of Matthew Desmond’s groundbreaking Evicted, Unjust Debts is a riveting and original work of accessible scholarship with huge implications for ordinary people and will set the terms of debate for this vital subject.

And from the reviews:

"In this compelling book Jacoby . . . shows how the bankruptcy code favours fake people, also known as corporations, over real people, especially relatively disadvantaged ones. . . . This is a highly disturbing account."
—Financial Times

"Unjust Debts synthesizes three decades of research into the system’s frustrating contradictions, helpfully summarizes the crux of the issue as bankruptcy’s ‘structural bias in favor of artificial persons’—i.e., corporations, nonprofits, and constructed entities explicitly designed to shield rich and powerful owners from the consequences of their misdeeds."
—The American Prospect

"Jacoby’s assured prose brings extraordinary clarity to an intentionally opaque and labyrinthine system. It’s an eye-opening look at the laws that undergird American inequality."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An exposé of the racial, class, and corporate biases in the U.S. bankruptcy system. . . . [Unjust Debts] is deserving of wide readership."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Melissa Jacoby’s Unjust Debts takes on the gross inequality that victims face every day in mass tort cases. If we can’t grasp the magnitude of the problem, we’ll never be able to fix it. The American bankruptcy system is fundamentally broken and every policymaker in America should be reading this book."
—Ryan Hampton, addiction recovery advocate and bestselling author of American Fix and Unsettled

"What is the foundation upon which inequality in America is built? We have come to understand so much of that hidden architecture in recent years—and now, in Unjust Debts, Melissa Jacoby brilliantly unearths one of the largest, and least-understood building blocks."
—Michael Eric Dyson, Vanderbilt University, and New York Times bestselling author of Tears We Cannot Stop
 
"A serious subject made accessible through great storytelling: Unjust Debts by Melissa Jacoby is a must-read that brings bankruptcy law to life. A companion to The Whiteness of Wealth and The Color of Law, Jacoby shows how a color-blind statute operates in a world where bankruptcy filers bring their racial identities into bankruptcy court. Unjust Debts also demonstrates how corporations are winners even in court and provides a path to reform."
—Dorothy A. Brown, Georgetown University, and bestselling author of The Whiteness of Wealth
 
"A constitutional grant of second chances to overburdened people has transformed into a corporate escape hatch for shocking acts of misconduct, and Melissa Jacoby painstakingly documents that transformation. The fight to reverse the terrible slide of bankruptcy into a tool for business manipulation begins with you reading this book."
—David Dayen, journalist and author of Monopolized
 
"Bankruptcy—which touches millions of Americans—is supposed to be society’s safety valve for hard times. Instead, Unjust Debts exposes how our unjust system simply exacerbates the problems it was created to fix. With wit and wisdom, Melissa Jacoby offers a master class in this vitally important and deeply flawed corner of our legal system."
—Zephyr Teachout, Fordham University, and author of Break ’Em Up
 
"Our country is facing an economic inequality crisis. We cannot understand the systemic roots of this crisis without cutting through the knot of American bankruptcy. The bankruptcy system ruins the lives of ordinary people while shielding the wealthy and powerful from accountability. Unjust Debts is an indispensable guide to understanding this problem—and points to concrete solutions for dismantling it."
—Mechele Dickerson, University of Texas at Austin, and author of Homeownership and America’s Financial Underclass
 
"A searing indictment of our bankruptcy system, Unjust Debts powerfully and persuasively shows that it is a system that fails to protect individuals, especially people of color, while helping corporations get away with inflicting serious harms. Jacoby makes complex bankruptcy law clear and accessible and offers proposals to create a far more just system."
—Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California, Berkeley, and bestselling author of Presumed Guilty
 
"The U.S. bankruptcy system is considered to be the model for the world. But Melissa Jacoby in this important work shows us how powerful and deep-pocketed actors can still corrupt a seemingly ideal system for their own ends."
—Sujeet Indap, Wall Street Editor at the Financial Times and co-author of Caesars Palace Coup

Legal Theory Bookworm: "Tech Monopoly" by Hovenkamp

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Tech Monopoly by Herbert Hovenkamp. Here is a description:

In recent years, the astronomical rise of tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft has been criticized as anticompetitive, and many have wondered if antitrust law can help protect workers and consumers. In Tech Monopoly, Herbert Hovenkamp explores competition problems in a wide range of high-tech firms—from those that sell purely digital products, such as video streaming, search, software, or email services, to others that sell more traditional “tactile” products, such as hardware, clothing, groceries, or rides. He offers a realistic look at the powers and limitations of antitrust law in tech markets with an assessment that is as comprehensive as it is accessible.

After a general introduction to antitrust law, Tech Monopoly considers how competitive harm should be assessed in these markets, as well as some features that make these markets unique, including “two-sided” structures. Then Hovenkamp looks at the role of large digital platforms, including Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, and considers whether their size alone is an antitrust problem or if the concern should be limited to market power. Finally, the author addresses the very difficult problem of remedies. Should we “break up” big tech, and if so, how? What kind of breakup of these firms would make users or others better off? And if breakups are not the only possible antitrust fix, are there more effective and less disruptive alternatives?

Offering simple explanations of the complex economics of digital platform markets, Tech Monopoly is an important read for anyone who wishes to understand how antitrust law works and whether it can help defend competition in the formidable era of big tech.

Hovenkamp!

Legal Theory Bookworm: " Punishment for the Greater Good" by Kolber

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Punishment for the Greater Good by Adam J. Kolber. Here is a description:

Over ten million people are incarcerated throughout the world, even though punishment theorists have struggled for centuries to morally justify the practice. Theorists usually address criminal justice under abstract, idealized conditions that assume away real-world uncertainty. We don't have time, however, to wait for a perfect moral theory, and the history of philosophy suggests we will never find it. Punishment for the Greater Good examines the justification of punishment in the here and now, recognizing that we lack certainty about matters of both fact and value.

Retributivists believe offenders deserve punishment because of their wrongdoing. They treat deserved punishment as intrinsically valuable. Adam Kolber argues that retributivism is too incomplete as a theory to address punishment at present and that the widely popular notion of proportional punishment at its core is both elusive and often undesirable.

Rather than seeking retribution, we should reduce total societal suffering by deterring crime, incapacitating dangerous people, and hopefully rehabilitating them. Though this consequentialist approach has fallen out of favor in recent decades, Kolber argues that it is better suited to addressing punishment in the here and now than the approach commonly taken by retributivists. If consequentialism successfully justifies punishment, then contrary to some carceral abolitionists, at least some incarceration under some conditions is justified today. While we will rarely know how to punish for the greatest good, we can seek to punish for the greater good.

Legal Theory Bookworm: "Free Speech as Civic Structure" by Krotoszynski

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Free Speech as Civic Structure: A Comparative Analysis of How Courts and Culture Shape the Freedom of Speech by Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr. on SSRN. Here is a description:

Free Speech as Social Structure: A Comparative Legal Analysis of How Courts and Culture Shape the Freedom of Speech examines and explains the limited relevance of constitutional text to the scope and vibrancy of free speech rights within a particular national legal system. Across jurisdictions, text or its absence will serve merely as a starting point for judicial efforts to protect speech activity. These judicial efforts, involving an ongoing and dynamic process of common law constitutionalism, will set the precise metes and bounds of expressive freedom within a particular polity.

In the United States, the contemporary Supreme Court largely ignores the actual text of the First Amendment in "First Amendment" cases. Moreover, this pattern repeats elsewhere - including Australia, Israel, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Judges in systems with relevant constitutional text (the United States and South Africa), as well as relevant statutory text (the United Kingdom), will often disregard the precise articulation of the right in favor of deploying a dynamic common law approach to protect speech from self-interested politicians who seek to distort the process of democratic deliberation. Judges also take the laboring oar in countries that lack a written free speech guarantee (Australia) or even a formal constitution as such (Israel).

The strength or weakness of free speech protections depends critically on the willingness and ability of judges to police government efforts to censor speech - in conjunction with the salience of speech as a socio-legal value within the body politic. Thus, a legal system featuring independent courts, ideally vested with a power of judicial review, but that lacks a written free speech guarantee will likely feature broader protection of the freedom of expression than a legal system with a written guarantee that lacks independent courts. Across jurisdictions, text or its absence invariably serves as, at best, as a starting point for judicial efforts to protect speech. Judges, engaged in a common law enterprise, matter far more than text and common law constitutionalism constitutes the global rule rather than the exception.

 

Legal Theory Bookworm: "The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century" by Koh

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century by Harold Hongju Koh. Here is a description:

A deeply researched, fully updated edition of The National Security Constitution that explores the growing imbalance of institutional powers in American foreign affairs and national security policy

Since the beginning of the American Republic, a package of norms has evolved in the U.S. Constitution to protect the operation of checks and balances in national security policy. This “National Security Constitution” promotes shared powers and balanced institutional participation in foreign policymaking. Today it is under attack from a competing claim of executive unilateralism generated by recurrent patterns of presidential activism, congressional passivity, and judicial tolerance. This dynamic has pushed presidents of both parties to press the limits of law in foreign affairs.

In his award-winning National Security Constitution (1990), Harold Hongju Koh traced the evolution of this constitutional struggle across America’s history. This new book, based on the earlier volume but with roughly 70 percent new material, brings the story to the present, placing recent events into constitutional perspective. Reviewing the presidencies of the twenty-first century, he explains why modern national security threats have given presidents of both parties incentives to monopolize foreign policy decision-making, Congress incentives to defer, and the courts reasons to rubber-stamp. Koh suggests both a workable strategy and crucial prescriptions to restore the balance of our constitutional order in addressing modern global crises.

And from the reviews:

“The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century is quite simply the best book ever written about its daunting subject. It is as brimming with practical advice as it is steeped in theoretical sophistication. Harold Hongju Koh’s topic is nothing less than the intricate system through which the United States Constitution structures America’s institutional arrangements for coping with global complexity and managing the challenges of securing the Nation while respecting self-government, adhering to the rule of law, and respecting the rights of all those affected by an ever more powerful federal Executive Branch. Written with the perspective that only experience can nurture, the wisdom that no amount of experience can ensure, and the brilliance that alone can bring wisdom and experience into alignment, Koh’s masterpiece will be required reading long after the dust has settled on the many crises that grip our attention as the first third of the twenty-first century comes to an end. But trying to cope with those crises without first reading this magisterial work would be sheer folly.”—Laurence Tribe, Harvard University

“Harold Hongju Koh represents that extraordinary public intellectual capable of dexterously operating at the highest levels of academia, government, and multilateral fora with equal skill and insight. In The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century, he shares a timely analysis and provocative blueprint for fixing broken institutions which the free world desperately needs restored to their proper equilibrium. The world looks to the United States to be who we say we are, and Americans who believe in that hard-earned exceptional role in the world look to Harold to help our institutions find our way back to that essential place. We would all do well not just to read his work but to act on it.”—John Kerry, 68th Secretary of State, President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

“Few people understand the complex workings of our National Security Constitution better than Harold Hongju Koh, and no one analyzes and explains them better. In this outstanding scholarly achievement, Professor Koh describes the growing dysfunction caused by institutional failures in all three branches of our federal government, and recommends a badly needed, workable strategy for constitutional repair.”—Chris Coons, U.S. senator from Delaware

“This book will be the new bible for security and international law, not just in the USA but all over the world. It represents a life’s work that will inspire scholars, judges, and public servants for generations.”—Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, Supreme Court of Canada (retired), Samuel Pisar Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School

“Harold Hongju Koh is a giant among those who think and live the American Constitution’s approach to foreign policy and international relations. The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century, his latest contribution to the field, is a tour de force. It is must reading for anyone interested in the subject.”—John Sexton, president emeritus, New York University

Legal Theory Bookworm: "Philosophical Foundations of Private International Law," edited by Green, Michaels, and Banu

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Philosophical Foundations of Private International Law, edited by Michael S. Green, Ralf Michaels, & Roxana Banu. Here is a description:

Private international law has long been understood as a doctrinal and technical body of law, without interesting theoretical foundations or implications. By systematically exploring the rich array of philosophical topics that are part of the fabric of private international law, Philosophical Foundations of Private International Law fills a significant and long-standing void in the legal and philosophical literature.

The contributions to this volume are testimony to the significant potential for interaction between philosophy and private international law. Some aim to expand and rethink classical jurisprudential theories by focusing on law beyond the state and on the recognition of foreign law and judgments in domestic courts. Others bring legal and moral theories to bear on traditional debates in private international law, such as legal pluralism, transnational justice, the interpretation of foreign legal policies, and the boundaries of the legal system. Several engage with the history of both private international law and legal and political philosophy. They point to missed opportunities when philosophers ignored law's transnational dimensions, or when private international law scholars failed to position their theories within broader philosophical schools of thought. Some seek to complete past attempts to articulate the philosophical dimensions of private international law that were never carried through. Thought-provoking and topical, this volume displays the varied themes cutting through the disciplines of private international law and philosophy.

And here is the table of contents:

Introduction, Roxana Banu, Michael S. Green, Ralf Michaels
Part I Normative Structure
1. Necessary Unity, Florian Rödl
2. The Choice-Equality Foundation of Choice of Law: The Restatement, Sagi Peari
3. Not an Isolated, Exceptional, and Indeed Contradictory Branch of Jurisprudence, David Dyzenhaus
4. Against Choice of Law Exceptionalism, Kermit Roosevelt III
5. Logical Models for Private International Law, Giovanni Sartor, Antonino Rotolo
Part II Authority
6. Authority and Interest Analysis, Michael S. Green
7. Three Ethical Perspectives in American Choice of Law, Lea Brilmayer
8. Justifying and Challenging Territoriality in Private International Law, Alex Mills
9. Public Policy and the Rule of Law, Joanna Langille
Part III Plurality
10. Plurality of Laws and Conflict of Laws: Reconciling Through Recognition?, Nicole Roughan
11. Conflict of Laws: Asymmetrical Recognition of the Stranger (in Ourselves), Hans Lindahl
12. Private International Law and the Legal Pluriverse, Ralf Michaels
13. Private International Law as 'Ligature': Elements for a Post-Monist Jurisprudence, Horatia Muir Watt
Part IV Justice and Autonomy
14. The Justice of Private International Law: Equality and the Difference Principle, Alejandro Aldo Menicocci
15. What We Owe to Each Other in Private International Law: Moral Contractualism and Transnational Justice, Roxana Banu
16. A Relations-First Approach to Choice of Law, George Pavlakos, Toni Marzal
17. Party Autonomy and the Challenge of Choice of Law, Perry Dane
18. Conflict of Laws and Global Governance, Dai Yokomizo

Legal Theory Bookworm: "You Can't Teach That" by Whittington

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends You Can't Teach That!: The Battle over University Classrooms by Keith E. Whittington on SSRN. Here is a description:

Who controls what is taught in American universities – professors or politicians?

The answer is far from clear but suddenly urgent. Unprecedented efforts are now underway to restrict what ideas can be promoted and discussed in university classrooms. Professors at public universities have long assumed that their freedom to teach is unassailable and that there were firm constitutional protections shielding them from political interventions. Those assumptions might always have been more hopeful than sound. A battle over the control of the university classroom is now brewing, and the courts will be called upon to establish clearer guidelines as to what – if any – limits legislatures might have in dictating what is taught in public universities.

In this path-breaking book, Keith Whittington argues that the First Amendment imposes meaningful limits on how government officials can restrict the ideas discussed on university campuses. In clear and accessible prose, he illuminates the legal status of academic freedom in the United States and shows how existing constitutional doctrine can be deployed to protect unbridled free inquiry.

And from the reviews:

"You Can’t Teach That! is an important and timely book. The recent wave of state legislative restrictions on academic freedom is a dangerous development, and Keith Whittington makes a strong case that these laws are inconsistent with the best understanding of First Amendment freedoms."
Thomas Moylan Keck, Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Syracuse University

“A robust and authoritative overview of the fierce debates over academic freedom in America.”
Floyd Abrams, Senior Counsel, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP

“This timely and urgent book provides the best available overview of the most aggressive attack on academic freedom since the McCarthy era. Everyone who cares about American higher education should read it.”
Jonathan Rauch, Brookings Institution

“superb”
The Dispatch