Book release event with Prof. Robert Tsai and Hon. Denny Chin

Register here:  https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1163728

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 in reality. In this accessible and wide-ranging work, American University law professor Robert L. Tsai offers a stirring account of how legal ideas that aren’t necessarily about equality at all—ensuring fair play, behaving reasonably, avoiding cruelty, and protecting free speech—have often been used to overcome resistance to justice and remain vital today.

Practical Equality is an original and compelling book on the intersection of law and society. Tsai, a leading expert on constitutional law who has written widely in the popular press, traces challenges to equality throughout American history: from the oppression of emancipated slaves after the Civil War to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II to President Trump’s ban on Muslim travelers. He applies lessons from these and other past struggles to such pressing contemporary issues as the rights of sexual minorities and the homeless, racism in the criminal justice system, police brutality, voting restrictions, oppressive measures against migrants, and more.

Deeply researched and well argued,Practical Equality offers a sense of optimism and a guide to pursuing equality for activists, lawyers, public officials, and concerned citizens.

“A timely review of America’s pursuit of equality and pragmatic solutions to better achieve it.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Tsai's clear writing and questioning approach make this ultimately both accessible and engaging…Deeply thought-provoking as the topic of egalitarianism remains highly contested in today’s political discourse.” — Booklist

“Despite raging controversies, it still remains possible for the Supreme Court to bring Americans together rather than drive them further apart. Robert Tsai brilliantly describes great Court decisions of the past which engaged in such bridge-building exercises, setting precedents for future Justices to follow if they hope to sustain broad public support.” — Bruce Ackerman, author of We the People

Robert L. Tsai is professor of law at American University. He is the author Practical Equality and America’s Forgotten Constitutions and his essays have appeared inBoston Globe, Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Politico, Boston Review, and Slate. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his family.

Questions: Chris Kwok / chrismkwok@aabany.org

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