Robert L. Tsai

Boston University - School of Law

765 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, MA 02215

United States

http://bit.ly/37YuJZ9

Princeton University - Center for Human Values

Princeton, NJ 08544

United States

  • Boston University - School of Law

  • Princeton University - Center for Human Values

SCHOLARLY PAPERS

47

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in Total Papers Downloads

7,909

TOTAL CITATIONS

5

Ideas:
“  My latest book is "Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer's Pursuit of Equal Justice for All" (2024), a history of legal and political advocacy by Stephen Bright and his organization, the Southern Center for Human Rights. My other books are "Practical Equality" (2019), "America's Forgotten Constitutions" (2014), and "Eloquence and Reason" (2008). I work in constitutional law, legal history, and political theory.  ”

  • Boston University - School of Law

  • Princeton University - Center for Human Values

Scholarly Papers (47)

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1.

The Politics of Hate

Journal of Hate Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 (2012), American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2012-48
Number of pages: 241 Posted: 04 Dec 2012 Last Revised: 06 Dec 2012
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 872 (60,187)

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hate, hate crime, evolutionary psychology, blood libel, lynching, jurisprudence, rationalism, islam, english defence league, fascism, communism

2.

Abortion Politics and the Rise of Movement Jurists

57 UC Davis Law Review 2149 (2024), Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper No. 4492053
Number of pages: 86 Posted: 06 Jul 2023 Last Revised: 04 Mar 2024
Robert L. Tsai and Mary Ziegler
Boston University - School of Law and University of California, Davis - School of Law
Downloads 562 (106,504)

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social movement, jurisprudence, Supreme Court, constitution, constitutional law, abortion, privacy, rights, equality, legal theory

3.

Constitutional Borrowing

Michigan Law Review, Vol. 108, 2010, Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Research Paper No. 145, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 09-36
Number of pages: 66 Posted: 20 Apr 2009 Last Revised: 23 Nov 2009
Nelson Tebbe and Robert L. Tsai
Cornell Law School and Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 545 (110,713)

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constitution, borrowing, First Amendment, Equal Protection, culture, minimalism, living constitutionalism, originalism, liberty, equality

4.

Fire, Metaphor, and Constitutional Myth-Making

Georgetown Law Journal, Vol. 93, p. 181, 2004
Number of pages: 59 Posted: 09 Apr 2004 Last Revised: 06 May 2008
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 497 (123,953)
Citation 3

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Supreme court, cognitive theory, cognitive linguistics, first amendment, constitutional law, metaphor, culture, language, linguistics, rhetoric, institutionalism, anthropology, internet, speech, expression, judicial power, courts, myth, folklore, script, performance

5.

Reconsidering Gobitis: An Exercise in Presidential Leadership

Washington University Law Review, Vol. 86, No. 2, pp. 363-443, 2008, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 09-31
Number of pages: 82 Posted: 31 Mar 2008 Last Revised: 06 Nov 2009
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 349 (186,310)

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constitution, religion, first amendment, jehovah's witness, conscience, president, executive branch, supreme court, war, gobitis, barnette

6.

After McCleskey

96 Southern California Law Review 1031 (2023), Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper No. 4352646
Number of pages: 70 Posted: 11 Feb 2023 Last Revised: 03 Apr 2024
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 301 (218,561)

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equality, equal protection, race, discrimination, death penalty, cause lawyering, legal change, supreme court, constitution, rights, jurisprudence

7.

John Brown's Constitution

Boston College Law Review, Vol. 51, 2010, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 09-35
Number of pages: 57 Posted: 24 Apr 2009 Last Revised: 08 Jun 2010
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 268 (246,613)

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constitution, radical, popular constitutionalism, slavery, equality, terrorism, citizenship, culture

8.

The Ethics of Melancholy Citizenship

Oregon Law Review, Vol. 89, p. 557, 2010, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2010-13
Number of pages: 25 Posted: 15 Jul 2009 Last Revised: 30 Dec 2010
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 251 (263,460)

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citizen, war, fdr, roosevelt, popular constitutionalism, langston hughes, poetry, ethics, melancholy, democracy, politics

9.

Sacred Visions of Law

Iowa Law Review, Vol. 90, p. 1095, 2005
Number of pages: 67 Posted: 21 Sep 2004 Last Revised: 06 May 2008
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 245 (269,970)

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religion, semiotics, symbol, culture, anthropology, interpretation, interpretive, iconography, constitution, ritual theory, realism, communitas, performance, performative, theater, humanities, judicial appointment, institutionalism, myth, parable, civil rights, marbury, madison, brown, education

10.

Obama's Conversion on Same-Sex Marriage: The Social Foundations of Individual Rights

Connecticut Law Review, Vol. 50, 2018, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2017-16
Number of pages: 60 Posted: 31 Jul 2017 Last Revised: 26 Mar 2018
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 196 (334,218)

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DOMA, Obama, gay rights, equality, equal protection, marriage, same-sex marriage, constitution, constitutional law, jurisprudence, president, courts, executive, Congress, Supreme Court, Eric Holder, Department of Justice

11.

Three Arguments About War

30 Constitutional Commentary 1 (2014), American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2012-37
Number of pages: 59 Posted: 25 Jun 2014 Last Revised: 03 Mar 2015
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 184 (354,291)

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12.

Speech and Strife

Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol. 67, p. 83, 2004
Number of pages: 22 Posted: 19 Nov 2003 Last Revised: 06 May 2008
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 175 (370,421)

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Constitutional law, language, linguistics, culture, new institutionalism, first amendment, cultural anthropology, rhetoric, free speech, jurisprudence, supreme court, metaphor, cognitive theory, cognitive linguistics

13.

Why Judges Can't Save Democracy

Syracuse Law Review, Vol. 72, No. 1, 2022, Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper No. 4164751
Number of pages: 17 Posted: 26 Jul 2022 Last Revised: 17 Oct 2022
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 171 (378,149)

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constitutional law, democracy, judicial review, comparative law, political theory, democratic decline

14.

Racial Purges

118 Michigan Law Review, 2019, Forthcoming, Temple University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019-28, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2019-27
Number of pages: 32 Posted: 07 Aug 2019 Last Revised: 10 Feb 2020
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 162 (396,348)

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purge, exclusion, Chinese, immigration, politics, xenophobia, race, ethnonationalism, migration, equality

15.

Eloquence and Reason: Creating a First Amendment Culture

ELOQUENCE AND REASON: CREATING A FIRST AMENDMENT CULTURE, Yale University Press, 2008, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 09-32
Number of pages: 10 Posted: 01 Nov 2008 Last Revised: 02 Nov 2009
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 160 (400,662)

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First Amendment, constitution, culture, language, rhetoric, civil rights, president, social movement, linguistic, metaphor, religion, speech, assembly

16.

Sovereignty as Discourse

Constitutional Commentary, Vol. 25, p. 157, 2008 , American University, WCL Research Paper No. 09-33
Number of pages: 14 Posted: 06 Feb 2009 Last Revised: 02 Nov 2009
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 150 (422,853)

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17.

Democracy's Handmaid

Boston University Law Review, Vol. 86, No. 1, 2006
Number of pages: 64 Posted: 13 Dec 2005 Last Revised: 06 May 2008
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 144 (437,088)

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constitution, democracy, jurisprudence, theory, civil rights, metaphor, language, sexual orientation, rhetoric

18.

Can Sandel Dethrone Meritocracy?

1 American Journal of Law and Equality (2021), Boston Univ. School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 21-09
Number of pages: 11 Posted: 14 Feb 2021 Last Revised: 03 Aug 2021
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 134 (466,117)

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moral philosophy, distributive justice, justice, university admissions, equality, meritocracy, law and emotions

19.

Legacies of Pragmatism

Drake Law Review, Vol. 69, No. 1, 2021, Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper
Number of pages: 44 Posted: 08 Jun 2021 Last Revised: 11 Mar 2022
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 131 (471,790)

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pragmatism, philosophy, legal philosophy, constitutionalism, judging, William James, minimalism, jurisprudence, institutionalism, constitutional theory

20.

Conclusion — The Migration of Legal Ideas: Legislative Design and the Lawmaking Process

N. Lupo & L. Scaffardi, Comparative Law in Legislative Drafting: The Increasing Importance of Dialogue Amongst Parliaments (Eleven Int’l Publish’g 2014), American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2014-15
Number of pages: 12 Posted: 31 Mar 2014 Last Revised: 27 Jul 2014
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 131 (471,790)

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borrowing, transplant, comparative law, parliament, legislature, lawmaking, procedure, formalism, institutionalism, Brazil, Namibia, Australia, South Africa, Spain, European Union, China, Canada, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States, colonialism

21.

Legal Language in Nineteenth-Century America

Nan Goodman & Simon Stern (eds.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Law and Humanities in Nineteenth-Century America (2015), American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2014-51
Number of pages: 29 Posted: 26 Dec 2014
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 130 (474,684)

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legal language, humanities, constitutional law, political discourse, slavery, abolition, emancipation, lincoln, law and literature, democratic culture, revolution, walt whitman, uncle tom's cabin, seneca falls, mark twain, civil war, five civilized tribes, okmulgee constitution, confederacy

22.

Book Review of Beau Breslin, 'From Words to Worlds: Exploring Constitutional Functionality'

Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 1226-1228, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2010-26
Number of pages: 4 Posted: 13 Aug 2010 Last Revised: 21 Oct 2010
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 127 (483,569)

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Constitution, Comparative Law, Politics, Social Conflict, Culture, Liberalism, Rights, Institutional Design

23.

Civic Education and Democracy's Flaws

LXVI Nomos (2023): 83-96
Number of pages: 18 Posted: 09 Dec 2022 Last Revised: 21 Feb 2024
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 126 (486,532)

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civic education, justice, democracy, equality, political theory, philosophy

24.

Aryans, Gender, and American Politics

Sexuality and Politics, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 16, 2011, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2011-24
Number of pages: 6 Posted: 23 Aug 2011 Last Revised: 02 Jul 2013
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 121 (502,032)

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Politics, Aryan, Right-Wing, Nazi, Race, Constitution, Richard Butler, Northwest, Gender, separatism, terrorism

25.

Abandoning Animus

Alabama Law Review, Vol. 74, 2022, p. 756, Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper No. 4381608
Number of pages: 26 Posted: 13 Mar 2023 Last Revised: 04 Mar 2024
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 117 (515,035)

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equality, equal protection, judge, judicial review, interpretation, hate, animus, race, sex, religion, sexual orientation

26.

'Simple' Takes on the Supreme Court

5 Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review 35 (2013), American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2013-07
Number of pages: 39 Posted: 20 Sep 2012 Last Revised: 03 Mar 2015
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 116 (518,390)

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equality, first amendment, adjudication, humanities, fiction, literature, Langston Hughes, justice, first amendment, equal protection, democracy, segregation

27.

Becoming Steve Bright

Kentucky Law Journal, Vol. 113, 2024, Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper No. 4818355
Number of pages: 25 Posted: 09 May 2024 Last Revised: 22 Jan 2025
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 103 (566,444)

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legal history, kent state, first amendment, courts, free speech, emergency power, war on crime, protest, Vietnam War, Nixon, constitutional law

28.

Conceptualizing Constitutional Litigation as Anti-Government Expression: a Speech-Centered Theory of Court Access

American University Law Review, Vol. 51, pp. 835, June 2002
Number of pages: 70 Posted: 02 Sep 2003 Last Revised: 03 May 2008
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 103 (566,444)

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court access, first amendment, constitutional litigation, public law, constitutional law, due process, litigation, civil rights, prisoner's right, prison litigation, attorney fees, right to petition, redress

29.

Introduction to Practical Equality: Forging Justice in a Divided Nation

Robert L. Tsai, Practical Equality: Forging Justice in a Divided Nation (W.W. Norton 2019), Temple University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019-29, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2019-24
Number of pages: 14 Posted: 16 Sep 2019 Last Revised: 23 Oct 2019
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 101 (574,500)

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pragmatism, law, constitution, equality, equal protection, liberty

30.

Manufactured Emergencies

129 Yale Law Journal Forum, Forthcoming, Temple University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019-38, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2020-04
Number of pages: 19 Posted: 19 Nov 2019 Last Revised: 19 Mar 2020
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 99 (582,459)
Citation 1

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president, executive power, emergency power, constitution, rule of law, immigration, military, constitutional law, jurisprudence

31.

Supreme Court Precedent and the Politics of Repudiation

Austin Sarat (Ed.), Law's Infamy (NYU Press 2021)
Number of pages: 46 Posted: 24 Jan 2020 Last Revised: 26 May 2021
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 98 (586,302)
Citation 1

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supreme court, jurisprudence, constitutional law, politics, precedent, abortion, religious freedom, free speech, privacy, dred scott, equality, internment, korematsu

32.

Prologue to America's Forgotten Constitutions: Defiant Visions of Power and Community

America's Forgotten Constitutions: Defiant Visions of Power and Community (Harvard Univ. Press 2014), American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2014-31
Number of pages: 19 Posted: 10 Jun 2014 Last Revised: 26 Jun 2014
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 92 (610,411)

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constitution, constitutional law, republicanism, liberalism, convention, popular sovereignty, native americans, pioneer, black sovereignty, john brown, slavery, confederacy, confederate states of america, sequoyah, oklahoma, five civilized tribes, world federalism, aryan, republic of new afrika

33.

The Public Defender Movement in the Age of Mass Incarceration: Georgia's Experience

1 Journal of American Constitutional History 85 (2023), Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper No. 4357454
Number of pages: 31 Posted: 15 Feb 2023 Last Revised: 04 Mar 2024
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 91 (614,538)

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right to counsel, criminal procedure, jurisprudence, cause lawyering, legal history, mass incarceration, indigent defense, 6th amendment, constitution, popular constitutionalism, localism, georgia, courts, justice

34.

Immigration Unilateralism and American Ethnonationalism

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal, Vol. 51, No. 1, 2019, Temple University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019-32, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2020-02
Number of pages: 33 Posted: 23 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 01 Feb 2021
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 90 (618,795)

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immigration, civil rights, equality, family, migration, refugee, culture, population control, politics, popular sovereignty

35.

Notes on Borrowing and Convergence

Columbia Law Review Sidebar, Vol. 111, pp. 140-150, 2011, Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper No. 256, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2011-29
Number of pages: 13 Posted: 01 Nov 2011
Robert L. Tsai and Nelson Tebbe
Boston University - School of Law and Cornell Law School
Downloads 80 (664,055)

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Fourth Amendment, exclusionary rule, criminal procedure, tort, remedies, borrowing, constitutional law, supreme court

36.

Reasoning from Injustice

Michigan Journal of Law and Race, Volume 30, forthcoming
Number of pages: 38 Posted: 01 Mar 2025 Last Revised: 23 Apr 2025
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 76 (683,938)

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justice, injustice, political theory, law and literature, democracy, constitutional theory, constitutionalism, rights, Frederick Douglass, Job, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, literature, slavery, equality

37.

Roads Not Taken on Affirmative Action

Seton Hall Law Review, Vol. 54, 2024, Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper No. 4782076
Number of pages: 18 Posted: 22 Apr 2024 Last Revised: 22 Jan 2025
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 73 (699,594)

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affirmative action, equality, universities, college admissions, fairness, due process, first amendment, self-expression, constitutional law

38.

The Place of the Presidency in Historical Time

Boston University Law Review, Vol. 101, 2021, Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper
Number of pages: 26 Posted: 03 Jun 2021 Last Revised: 29 Jul 2021
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 73 (699,594)

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democracy, democratic backsliding, constitution, social movement, presidency, american political development, institutionalism

39.

The Future of Materialist Constitutionalism

The New Rambler (2021), Boston Univ. School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 21-08
Number of pages: 17 Posted: 18 Feb 2021 Last Revised: 11 Mar 2021
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 71 (710,464)

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constitution, corruption, equality, republicanism, theory, politics, law, machiavelli, arendt

40.

Considerations of History and Purpose in Constitutional Borrowing

28 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Forthcoming (2019), American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2020-07
Number of pages: 25 Posted: 13 Dec 2019 Last Revised: 19 Mar 2020
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 69 (721,667)

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democracy, constitutional borrowing, interpretation, constitution, constitutional law, jurisprudence, second amendment, first amendment, equality

41.

The System Worked: Our Schizophrenic Stance on Welfare

Yale Law Journal, Vol. 106, No. 929, 1996
Number of pages: 6 Posted: 08 May 2008 Last Revised: 14 May 2008
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 67 (733,140)

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welfare, public policy, democracy, politics, elites, public opinion, law, rights, judicial review

42.

Equality is a Brokered Idea

George Washington Law Review Arguendo, Vol. 87, Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper Forthcoming
Number of pages: 20 Posted: 13 Aug 2019 Last Revised: 13 Feb 2023
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 63 (757,295)

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Practical Equality, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, jurisprudence, law, equality, census, politics

43.

The Hidden Costs of Dissent

34 Constitutional Commentary 489 (2019), American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2020-16
Number of pages: 18 Posted: 15 Jun 2020 Last Revised: 16 Oct 2020
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 56 (803,941)

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constitution, constitutional law, equality, egalitarianism, pragmatism, politics, popular sovereignty, political theory, jurisprudence, legal history

44.

A Tradition at War with Itself: A Reply to Professor Rana's Review of America's Forgotten Constitutions: Defiant Visions of Power and Community

Texas Law Review, Vol. 94, No. 60, 2016, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2018-02
Number of pages: 11 Posted: 06 Oct 2017 Last Revised: 30 Apr 2018
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 50 (848,993)

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constitution, america, comparative jurisprudence, rights, tradition, constitutional law, constitutional history, culture, norms

45.

A Proper Burial

Arkansas Law Review, Vol. 74, 2021, Boston Univ. School of Law Research Paper
Number of pages: 18 Posted: 29 Apr 2021
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 47 (873,401)

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war, internment, korematsu, muslim travel ban, national security, constitutional law, constitution, supreme court

46.

Constitutional Disorder

Number of pages: 13 Posted: 14 Feb 2025
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 22 (1,134,815)

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constitution, constitutional convention, constitutional change, democracy, poliitcal theory, constitutional history, legal history, political science

47.

Searching for the Radical Constitution

The New Rambler (forthcoming)
Number of pages: 11 Posted: 24 Feb 2025
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 20 (1,159,618)

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Aziz Rana, constitution, constitutionalism, socialism, imperialism, constitutional reform, radicalism, constitutional theory, populism, democracy

Other Papers (2)

Total Downloads: 104
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1.

Review of Nicholas Guyatt, ‘Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation’ (Basic 2016)

Journal of American History, Vol. 104, Issue 1, p. 179, June 2017
Number of pages: 2 Posted: 27 Oct 2017
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 63

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Segregation, Race, Constitution, Politics, American History, Legal History, Native American

2.

Book Review of Zephyr Teachout, Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United (Harvard 2014)

102 Journal of American History 503 (2015)
Number of pages: 1 Posted: 12 Sep 2015
Robert L. Tsai
Boston University - School of Law
Downloads 41

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corruption, constitutional law, American founding, U.S. constitution, campaign finance