Join the ACS Michigan Lawyer Chapter, Michelle Adams and Paul Dimond for a compelling discussion on Adams's forthcoming book, The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North. This event will delve into the 1974 Supreme Court case Milliken v. Bradley, which halted school desegregation efforts in the North, and examine its enduring impact on racial justice and educational equality in America.

In THE CONTAINMENT, the esteemed legal scholar Michelle Adams tells the epic story of the struggle to integrate Detroit schools—and what happened when it collided with Nixon appointed justices committed to a judicial counterrevolution. Adams chronicles the devoted activists who tried to uplift Detroit's students amid the upheavals of riots, Black power, and white flight—and how their efforts led to federal judge Stephen Roth’s landmark order to achieve racial balance by tearing down the walls separating the city and its suburbs. The “metropolitan remedy” could have remade the landscape of racial justice. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that the suburbs could not be a part of the effort to integrate—and thus upheld the inequalities that remain in place today.

Adams tells this story via compelling portraits of a city under stress and of key figures— including Detroit’s first Black mayor, Coleman Young, and Justices Marshall, Rehnquist, and Powell. The result is a legal and historical drama that exposes the roots of today’s backlash against affirmative action and other efforts to fulfill the country's promise.

Michelle Adams is the Henry M. Butzel Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. The former codirector of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, she served on the Biden administration’s Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court and as an expert commentator on the Netflix series Amend: The Fight for America and the Showtime series Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court. Her writings have appeared in The New Yorker, The Yale Law Journal, California Law Review, and elsewhere. She was born and grew up in Detroit.

Paul Dimond served as the Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law, tried several major race cases that challenged a divided Supreme Court, became a Professor Law, and served as Special Assistant to President Clinton for Economic Policy. He has also practiced law, chaired a national real estate firm and continues to spend his time between his two Arbors. Currently, he works on behalf of several non-profits in Michigan so the heart of the Great Lakes can once again become a thriving home for fresh water and fresh ideas. He is the author of numerous articles and three books on policy, law and history, including Beyond Busing, recipient of the Ralph J. Bunche Book of the Year in 1986, as well as the author of three novels. He is an alumnus of Amherst College and the University of Michigan Law School.

Professor Adams will be present before the talk to sign copies of her book, which will be available for purchase.

You can find more information and to register here.

This is a collaborative welcome-back event where our association will get together to go skiing with a fitness club (ALIAS), the Business Law Society, the Law Association for Women, and Outlaws (LGBT+).

Join The American Constitution Society as it co-hosts a debate on Supreme Court reform with The Federalist Society. Professors William Baude and Adam Chilton will be participating on January 31st in Room III. This debate follows a political movement criticizing the politicization of The Court in the wake of Merrick Garland's failed nomination which led to a 6-3 conservative majority when Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed. Former President Joe Biden established Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States to investigate the idea of reforming The Court which ultimately did not recommend and changes. 

Professor William Baude was selected by President Joe Biden to serve on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States in April 2021.

Professor William Baude is the Harry Kalven, Jr. Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School, where he teaches federal courts, constitutional law, election law, and conflict of laws. His current research interests include election law, Federal Indian Law, and the constitutional law of interstate relations. Professor Baude received his BS in Mathematics from the University of Chicago and his JD from Yale Law School. He then clerked for then-Judge Michael McConnell on the United States Court of Appeals, and Chief Justice John Roberts on the United States Supreme Court.

Professor Adam Chilton is the Howard G. Krane Professor of Law and the Walter Mander Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. Adam also currently serves as an editor of the Journal of Law and Economics. Adam received a BA and MA in Political Science from Yale University. After college, Adam worked as a management consultant for BCG. He then went to Harvard University, where he earned a JD and a PhD in Political Science.

Texas Law Professor Dean Farnsworth is co-sponsoring an event with ACS: A conversation between Abha Khanna and Professor Joshua Sellers on the fight for fair maps through redistricting litigation.

Abha Khanna is a Litigation Partner at Elias Law Group focusing largely on voting rights and redistricting litigation. Ms. Khanna has litigated before numerous state and federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court. Ms. Khanna was counsel for respondents in Allen v. Milligan, an important recent victory for voting- rights advocates. Come learn about the cutting-edge issues in this fascinating and important branch of law!

Join us for a conversation with Jeff Mandell, co-founder of Law Forward, a progressive legal advocacy organization focusing on voting rights and election issues in the state of Wisconsin.

Come learn about the newest KU Law student group during our welcome meeting. Come by Thursday at lunch to learn more about who we are, what our goals are, and how you can help push the law in a more progressive direction for the benefit of yourselves and your community!