Legal History

Georgetown Law Professor Sheryll Cashin ’89 once asked her mentor, Thurgood Marshall, why he had passed over Constance Baker Motley to succeed him when he…

Harvard Law Today offers a look back at Justice Stephen Breyer's career and his legacy, and his lifelong connection to Harvard Law School.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer ’64, who focused on the consequences of his judicial decisions, has announced that he will step down after more than a quarter century on the Court.

In the wake of the news that Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer ’64 will retire at the end of the current term, Harvard Law School faculty members offer their thoughts on his tenure, legacy, and how the nation’s highest court could change after his departure.

Richard Lazarus ’79, a Supreme Court advocate and the Howard and Katherine Aibel Professor of Law, reflects on Justice Breyer's "striking pragmatism" — and passion — during his 28 years on the Court.

Former White House Counsel Neil Eggleston says President Biden has “restored dignity and public purpose to the White House” but that his agenda faces strong opposition from some state attorneys general.

In “Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality,” Harvard Law Professor Tomiko Brown-Nagin traces the tactics of the groundbreaking lawyer amid pivotal protests.

Harvard Law School expert Mark Tushnet says the Biden administration has succeeded in appointing federal judges and also “opened space” for discussion of Supreme Court reform.

Lani Guinier, the first African-American woman to be tenured at Harvard Law School and an influential scholar who devoted her life to justice, equality, empowerment, and democracy, died Jan. 7.

At the recent Rappaport Forum, panelists discussed abortion rights and whether the Supreme Court should honor precedent — or jettison Roe v. Wade. 

At a Harvard Law School Library Book Talk, Martha Minow, along with Vicki Jackson and Nikolas Bowie, discussed why the press is in danger — and how to save it.

Members of the Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School are representing a same-sex widower in his appeal before the VA and in federal court in a potentially precedent-setting case.

Would a tax on billionaires be constitutional? How would it work in practice? And would it work at all? Harvard Law School Professor Thomas J. Brennan says the answers are complicated.

During a recent discussion about his new collection of essays, “Say it Loud! On Race, Law, History, and Culture,” Randall Kennedy shared background on a few of his favorite pieces, defended free thought, and spoke about his view on the future of race relations in America.

Harvard Law Today recently spoke with Harvard Law School Professor Howell E. Jackson about what could happen if the United States defaulted on its debts for the first time in history.

Charles Fried, Richard Lazarus ’79, Tejinder Singh ’08, and Carol Steiker ’86 discuss the Supreme Court’s increasingly important emergency powers known as its “shadow docket.”

September 2021 saw the publication of the inaugural issue of The American Journal of Law and Equality, a project developed by Professors Martha Minow, Randall Kennedy, and Cass Sunstein, in collaboration with MIT Press.

With the start of the academic year, a look at nine faculty who have joined Harvard Law School, been promoted, or taken on new roles in 2021.

As part of ongoing analysis, the 36-member Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, 16 of whom are Harvard Law School faculty or alumni, recently solicited testimony from scholars across the political spectrum to weigh in on Court reform.

“Anna Lvovsky chronicles the policing of gay life in the mid-20th century.

Harvard Law Professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos recently spoke with Harvard Law Today about the Supreme Court's recent decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, options for advocates moving forward, and the future of the Voting Rights Act.