Civil Rights Deserts

Fred Smith (Stanford Law) and I wrote an essay for a symposium at Harvard Law School convened to consider threats to democracy and accountability in the second Trump Administration. Smith and I write that such threats are nothing new--indeed they exist throughout our country in what we call "civil rights deserts." We illustrate what we call "accountability deserts" and "enforcement deserts" through harrowing stories of civil rights abuses in Rankin County and Hinds County, Mississippi. We also offer proposals to create oases of sorts through litigation, media scrutiny, community advocacy, sustained judicial oversight, and coordination with supportive government officials. We hope that these case studies can offer important lessons for addressing threats to constitutional accountability and the rule of law wherever they emerge.

If you're Interested, you can take a look here: https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-139/civil-rights-deserts/. And the whole symposium issue Is fabulous and available here: https://harvardlawreview.org/.