Kenneth W. Mack

Kenneth Mack is a historian and the Lawrence Biele Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. More info at

[Kenneth W. Mack @KennethWMack]

Book Review: ‘The Trouble of Color,’ by Martha S. Jones - The New York Times https://t.co/V5IcoaDJvj

[American Experience @AmExperiencePBS]

Meet one of the most influential—yet least known—figures of the civil rights movement.

FORGOTTEN HERO: WALTER WHITE AND THE NAACP premieres February 25 at 9/8c on @PBS → https://t.co/IK9JXe1h8k #ForgottenHeroPBS

[Harvard Law School @Harvard_Law]

Harvard Law Professor Kenneth Mack '91 explores organized labor’s complicated history with civil rights. https://t.co/p7OJ4lClbL

[Kenneth W. Mack @KennethWMack]

Harvard Law Professor on Birthright Citizenship https://t.co/eHkX1G7I80 via @YouTube

[Kenneth W. Mack @KennethWMack]

@Edsall Opinion | Trump 2025 Is Coming Into View - The New York Times. Comments by ⁦@KennethWMack⁩, others. What we face with regard to the future of our democracy. https://t.co/nFifopxdT8

[Pushkin Industries 🎙️ @pushkinpods]

On #TheLastArchive, Jill Lepore & @bhafrey celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling⚖️

Explore @oyez's AI-powered recreation of the cases, hear from @Harvard_Law’s @KennethWMack about their enduring significance, and more!: https://t.co/MrcyPYE8YE

[Kenneth W. Mack @KennethWMack]

Talking about the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education with Jill Lepore, and how AI might help in understanding it: https://t.co/elKdKvs0Hc

[Legal History Blog @legalhistory]

Tsai, "Demand the Impossible One Lawyer's Pursuit of Equal Justice for All" https://t.co/D51b8WUiz3

[Kenneth W. Mack @KennethWMack]

"This pathbreaking Black journalist offers a model in uncertain times." Review of new book by @CharlayneHG in @BookWorld https://t.co/6XeOBXN7r1

[Kenneth W. Mack @KennethWMack]

Longer version of article: Biden's so-white historians may miss crucial points on saving democracy. : NPR Comments by ⁦@KennethWMack⁩ ⁦@ProfMSinha⁩ ⁦@jelani9⁩ ⁦@scottkurashige⁩ https://t.co/ys8LyfeQcX

[Kenneth W. Mack @KennethWMack]

Biden's meeting with historians over threats to democracy draws criticism on ⁦@npratc⁩. Comments by @KennethWMack⁩, ⁦⁦@jelani9⁩, ⁦@ProfMSinha⁩ https://t.co/gzR2n1LrNJ

[Niko Bowie @nikobowie]

This is the “history and tradition” we should cultivate. The major question for the left is not how to persuade Justice Kavanaugh or Senator Manchin to listen, but how to persuade our neighbors and coworkers to commit to collective action.

[Niko Bowie @nikobowie]

Libraries document specific strategies ordinary people have used to change legal structures worse than today’s: books like @rsgexp’s No Shortcuts, Marshall Ganz’s Why David Sometimes Wins, Frances Fox Piven’s Challenging Authority, and Barbara Ransby’s biography of Ella Baker.

[Niko Bowie @nikobowie]

The labor movement is currently perfecting the art of organizing, whether structure-based or momentum-driven. Its tactics aren’t new but modeled after histories of working women, people of color & abolitionists who built political power with strikes & boycotts, not just lawsuits.

[Niko Bowie @nikobowie]

In contrast with legal liberalism, organizing is a theory of change that doesn’t trust people atop hierarchies to share our values. Rather, we must build our relationships with one another into the disruptive leverage necessary to compel skeptics to follow our lead.

[Niko Bowie @nikobowie]

To reverse this week’s court decisions we need national laws. To enact national laws we need political power. To build political power we need to collectively commit not just to the biannual ritual of voting, but also to the day-to-day grit of organizing the people around us.

[Niko Bowie @nikobowie]

Rather than look for leadership from dissents or Capitol poetry, we need to learn from people who have spent these same decades building power in *spite* of a hostile legal system. The recent victories of the labor movement, modest as they are, should be studied and replicated.

[Niko Bowie @nikobowie]

More importantly, legal liberalism has also displaced the US left’s infrastructure & vocabulary of popular power. For decades, liberals have confidently responded to injustice with “see you in court.” But the same voices are famished for alternatives when courts are the problem.

[Niko Bowie @nikobowie]

This week reveals one obvious downside of legal liberalism: judges can ignore it. It’s terrific when the people in charge agree with you that everyone should have contraception, healthcare, or a livable environment. But what are you supposed to do when they don’t?

[Niko Bowie @nikobowie]

Our government is dominated by graduates of law schools—where they learn how liberal victories since 1954 have been won not by organizing, movement building, or legislating, but by arguing so persuasively that no judge can resist bending the arc of history toward justice.