Brown-Nagin, Tomiko - Reconsidering the Insular Cases: The Past and Future of the American Empire

Gerald Neuman (Editor), Tomiko Brown-Nagin (Editor). Harvard University Press, Human Rights Program Series. April 2015
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Over a century has passed since the United States Supreme Court decided a series of cases, known as the “Insular Cases,” that limited the applicability of constitutional rights in Puerto Rico and other overseas territories and allowed the United States to hold them indefinitely as subordinated possessions without the promise of representation or statehood. Essays in this volume, which originated in a Harvard Law School conference, reconsider the Insular Cases. Leading legal authorities examine the history and legacy of the cases, which are tinged with outdated notions of race and empire, and explore possible solutions for the dilemmas they created. 

Tomiko Brown-Nagin Harvard Law School: Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law; Faculty Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute; Co-Director, Program in Law and History   Tomiko Brown-Nagin is Professor of Law and Professor of History. An expert on constitutional law, social and legal history, education law, and inequality, Brown-Nagin has published widely in these areas. Her 2011 book, Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement (Oxford), received several prizes, including the Bancroft Prize, the Organization of American Historians' Liberty Legacy Book Award, and the Lillian Smith Book Award. A member of the Board of Directors of the American Society for Legal History and of the Editorial Board of Law & Social Inquiry, Brown-Nagin also serves as a consultant to educational institutions and non-profit organizations.  Read more...