Justice Archives - Public Seminar

Podcast

Sex, Death, and the Eyes of a Nation

A conversation with historian Bruce Dorsey about Murder in a Mill Town: Sex, Faith, and the Crime That Captivated a Nation

February 7, 2024 • by Claire Potter

I asked Bruce Dorsey, author of Murder in a Mill Town, to come talk to me about America’s first, great sensational trial....

New York City

Good Jewish Boys Gone Bad

Did the sexual monstrosity of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein have cultural roots?

August 31, 2022 • by Mitchell Abidor

Harvey Weinstein—like Jeffrey Epstein—was the product not of a liberated sexuality gone haywire but of a liberated sexuality that passed them by when it mattered most. ...

Prisons and Police

When Children Commit Atrocities

Crimes that tear at our hearts are also opportunities to forgive

January 5, 2022 • by Harold Pollack

A member of my own family was beaten to death by a high school student. That boy is now a man. He walks the streets today. I believe justice has been served....

Race

There’s a Black Man Running Down My Street

When nice white neighbors criminalize a man for being Black and kill him it’s not just murder—it’s a lynching.

December 1, 2021 • by Mark Allan Williams

When is a murder not a murder? When it’s a lynching. On November 24, 2021—the day before Thanksgiving—many Americans let out a collective breath of relief. In Brunswick, Georgia, a jury convicted Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan of murder for hunting down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an ...

There’s a Black Man Running Down My Street

The Right

Creeping Fascism

The Texas law attacking reproductive justice is the antithesis of both law and democracy

September 8, 2021 • by Laura Briggs

_____ Is there any other phrase for the events that have activated the Texas abortion law other than “creeping fascism”? First, the ban itself is essentially an anti-law, designed to promote vigilantism. In itself, that’s not surprising. S.B. 8 is the culmination not just of numerous state-level laws that have narrowed abortion ...

Politics

All the Political World’s a Stage

Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will put Republicans, Democrats, and the idea of justice on trial too

February 9, 2021 • by Peter Nohrnberg

On the 9th of February, the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will begin: the outcome is all but assured. Although Trump himself will likely be exonerated, neither political party will be easily freed from the burden brought upon them by his presidency. The trial will be a test and ...

Activism

When It Comes to Racial Justice, Why Is It Wrong to Demand the “Impossible”?

Because when white comfort matters most, Black lives are not a priority

November 3, 2020 • by Kristopher Burrell

On a recent episode of The Open Mind, Alexander Heffner asked his guest, activist minister and scholar Nyle Fort, about the connections between the Covid-19 pandemic and the reemergence of social justice protests across America. Referencing Arundhati Roy’s recent essay “The Pandemic is a Portal,” Fort meditated on the potential ...

When It Comes to Racial Justice, Why Is It Wrong to Demand the “Impossible”?

Democracy

Why Are There No Protestants on the Supreme Court?

Protecting the rights of religious minorities may propel some legal scholars to the top

October 22, 2020 • by Peter Rutland and Şener Aktürk

President Trump’s decision to nominate Amy Coney Barrett for the United States Supreme Court led some Republicans to complain about anti-Catholic bias. Democrats, they charged, were suggesting that Barrett’s Catholic faith could prevent her from making independent judicial decisions. Their evidence? Senator Dianne Feinstein, during Barrett’s earlier confirmation hearing, saying: ...

Why Are There No Protestants on the Supreme Court?

Democracy

It’s…It’s…His Emails!

As voters stream to the polls, the Trump campaign frantically distracts from the GOP’s attack on democracy

October 15, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

Tuesday began with a breathless story from a Murdoch tabloid, The New York Post alleging that, according to Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Joe Biden’s son, Hunter dropped off three laptops for repair in 2019 and never picked them up again. Then, the story alleges,the FBI subpoenaed the hard drives, but ...

Activism

A New Era in America’s Racial Politics

How a racial reparations alliance can prove that Black lives matter

August 27, 2020 • by Rogers M. Smith and Desmond King

Asheville isn’t the first American city to apologize for slavery and enact new policies to repair some of the damage it has done to Black families. For example, in November 2019, Evanston, Illinois, decided to levy a tax on marijuana to expand housing and employment opportunities for the city’s African ...

Politics

What Roger Stone’s Commuted Sentence Tells Us About Trump’s Commitment to Conspiracy

The president is covering up the cover-up of a crime

July 14, 2020 • by John Stoehr

It’s hard to know where to begin discussing the president’s commutation of Roger Stone’s sentence. So let’s start with what it means. It’s not a pardon. Donald Trump’s goombah is still a felon convicted of witness tampering and lying to the U.S. Congress. He plans to appeal the guilty verdict. “Commutation” ...

What Roger Stone’s Commuted Sentence Tells Us About Trump’s Commitment to Conspiracy

Activism

What Will It Take for Black Lives to Matter?

Nonviolent, cross-racial coalitions are the way back to a decent America

July 9, 2020 • by Todd Gitlin

I wrote the article that follows three years ago. Since it first appeared in the American Prospect, Black Lives Matter (BLM) has generated the largest protest movement in American history. What has changed? And what hasn’t? It remains true that the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) is ill-defined. It has rough edges ...

Justice

Sex, Death, and the Eyes of a Nation

A conversation with historian Bruce Dorsey about Murder in a Mill Town: Sex, Faith, and the Crime That Captivated a Nation

Good Jewish Boys Gone Bad

Did the sexual monstrosity of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein have cultural roots?

When Children Commit Atrocities

Crimes that tear at our hearts are also opportunities to forgive

There’s a Black Man Running Down My Street

When nice white neighbors criminalize a man for being Black and kill him it’s not just murder—it’s a lynching.

Creeping Fascism

The Texas law attacking reproductive justice is the antithesis of both law and democracy

All the Political World’s a Stage

Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will put Republicans, Democrats, and the idea of justice on trial too

When It Comes to Racial Justice, Why Is It Wrong to Demand the “Impossible”?

Because when white comfort matters most, Black lives are not a priority

Why Are There No Protestants on the Supreme Court?

Protecting the rights of religious minorities may propel some legal scholars to the top

It’s…It’s…His Emails!

As voters stream to the polls, the Trump campaign frantically distracts from the GOP’s attack on democracy

A New Era in America’s Racial Politics

How a racial reparations alliance can prove that Black lives matter

What Roger Stone’s Commuted Sentence Tells Us About Trump’s Commitment to Conspiracy

The president is covering up the cover-up of a crime

What Will It Take for Black Lives to Matter?

Nonviolent, cross-racial coalitions are the way back to a decent America

Newsletter

Connect With Us