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Join us as we welcome DANIEL KIEL on THURSDAY, APRIL 13 at 6:00 pm to celebrate the release of his new book THE TRANSITION: INTERPRETING JUSTICE FROM THURGOOD MARSHALL TO CLARENCE THOMAS.**Can't attend an event? Don't miss out on signed copies! You can order autographed books for this event by going here: https://www.novelmemphis.com/event/daniel-kiel-transition and leaving your personalization instructions in the comments at checkout! Your books will be signed and ready for pickup or shipping the day after the event.**
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Every Supreme Court transition presents an opportunity for a shift in the balance of the third branch of American government, but the replacement of Thurgood Marshall with Clarence Thomas in 1991 proved particularly momentous. Not only did it shift the ideological balance on the Court; it was inextricably entangled with the persistent American dilemma of race. In The Transition, this most significant transition is explored through the lives and writings of the first two African American justices on Court, touching on the lasting consequences for understandings of American citizenship as well as the central currents of Black political thought over the past century.
In their lives, Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas experienced the challenge of living and learning in a world that had enslaved their relatives and that continued to subjugate members of their racial group. On the Court, their judicial writings--often in concurrences or dissents--richly illustrate the ways in which these two individuals embodied these crucial American (and African American) debates--on the balance between state and federal authority, on the government's responsibility to protect its citizens against discrimination, and on the best strategies for pursuing justice. The gap between Justices Marshall and Thomas on these questions cannot be overstated, and it reveals an extraordinary range of thought that has yet to be fully appreciated.
The 1991 transition from Justice Marshall to Justice Thomas has had consequences that are still unfolding at the Court and in society. Arguing that the importance of this transition has been obscured by the relegation of these Justices to the sidelines of Supreme Court history, Daniel Kiel shows that it is their unique perspective as Black justices - the lives they have lived as African Americans and the rooting of their judicial philosophies in the relationship of government to African Americans - that makes this succession echo across generations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Daniel Kiel is the FedEx Professor of Law at the University of Memphis School of Law, where he teaches constitutional and education law. He is the director of the documentary film, The Memphis 13, which shares the stories of the first graders who desegregated schools in Memphis in 1961 and the author of various articles and book chapters on race, education, and constitutional law. As a professor, he has received numerous awards, including the university's distinguished teaching award and its Martin Luther King, Jr., Human Rights Award for his scholarly work and service to the community. He also was awarded a Fulbright fellowship, through which he studied post-apartheid schooling in South Africa at the University of the Free State in 2015. Professor Kiel has a B.A. from the University of Texas and his law degree from Harvard Law School, and he practiced law in Boston and Memphis prior to joining the University of Memphis law faculty. He is a native Memphian, a current Midtowner, a loving husband and a proud father.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Novel Memphis, 387 Perkins Ext,Memphis,TN,United States