INTRODUCTION

Abstract

The American Journal of Law and Equality stemmed from a determination on the part of the founding editors to do something to contribute to efforts to analyze injustices and offer useful responses. We decided to start a journal in the summer of 2020, during that period after the horrific murder of George Floyd when millions of people around the world raised their voices to show solidarity with those who are mistreated by the very officials who are supposed to protect them. Seeking to meet the imperatives of that moment and encouraged by Dean John Manning, professors at Harvard Law School created new offerings to address the dramatic upsurge in student demand for exploration of various social pathologies including racism and kindred prejudices, class deprivation, and all other sorts of unfairness. My co-editors and I decided to assist by creating a journal focused on the broad and vexing subject of equality.When we began, we had no blueprint. We did not even have a title. We had only a conviction that it would be productive and fun to organize on an annual basis a volume that would bring together writings exploring problems involving equality, particularly dilemmas that confront lawyers, judges, and legislators. We are open to various genres. We invite the participation of commentators across the ideological spectrum. We particularly enjoy facilitating debates and try as much as possible to stage disciplined contestation in our pages.This second issue includes articles, book review essays, and an interview, exploring issues of equality and inequality ranging across antitrust, taxation, Native American lands, labor and employment, structural features of the economy, uses of genetic science, policing, animals, and access to civil justice. Topics include judicial interpretations undermining the constitutional and statutory powers redressing racial inequality, the loss and potential revival of democracy as opportunity, relations between a past wrong and subsequent existence, and uses and abuses of history.We would very much appreciate receiving your comments, questions, or objections regarding the volume as a whole or discrete pieces within it. We can be reached at jle@harvard.law.edu.Thank you for your attention.