Pillars of Justice: Lawyers and the Liberal Tradition

by Owen Fiss

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Pillars of Justice explores the purpose and possibilities of life in the law through moving accounts of thirteen lawyers who shaped the legal world during the past half century. Some, such as Thurgood Marshall, were Supreme Court Justices. Others, like John Doar and Burke Marshall, set the civil rights policies of the federal government during the 1960s. Some, including Harry Kalven and Catharine MacKinnon, have taught at the greatest law schools of the nation and nourished the liberalism show more rooted in the civil rights era. Jurists from abroad--Aharon Barak, for example--were responsible for the rise of the human rights movement that today carries the burden of advancing liberal values. These lawyers came from diverse backgrounds and held various political views. What unites them is a deep, abiding commitment to Brown v. Board of Education as an exceptional moment in the life of the law--a willingness to move mountains, if need be, to ensure that we are living up to our best selves. In tracing how these lawyers over a period of fifty years used the Brown ruling and its spirit as a beacon to guide their endeavors, this history tells the epic story of the liberal tradition in the law. For Owen Fiss, one of the country's leading constitutional theorists, the people described were mentors, colleagues, and friends. In his portraits, Fiss tries to identify the unique qualities of mind and character that made these individuals so important to the institutions and legal principles they served-- show less

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Author Information

23 Works 138 Members
Owen Fiss is Sterling Professor of Law at Yale University.

Classifications

Genres
Politics and Government, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, History
DDC/MDS
340.092Society, government, & cultureLawLawLawBiography And HistoryBiography
LCC
KF371 .F57LawLaw of the United StatesLaw of the United States (Federal)History
BISAC

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2,495,907
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
2