Critical Race Theory and the Struggle at the Heart of Legal Education

This book is an examination of the reception of critical race theory (CRT) in America’s legal education system. Critical race theory has been roiling legal education since the aftermath of Obama’s presidency. The killings of unarmed Black people fueled Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in law schools, which created a sense of urgency behind the plea for the law to do more to stop the killings of unarmed Black people. Some BLM-led protests called for faculty and administers to be fired if they didn’t act. There has been an upsurge of states legislating against the teaching of CRT, and law schools are struggling to respond. How should legal education view CRT? What are the neutral unifying values in the law that offer hope in the fight to alleviate the wave of racism that seems to continually batter law schools and society as a whole? This book looks for answers, and encourages the recommittal to the foundationalist beliefs of free speech, equality, and the due process of law.