CBH Talk | Elie Mystal and Christina Greer Discuss “Bad Law”

Thu, Mar 27 2025
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Center for Brooklyn History

author talks book discussion BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History conversations


In Bad Law, Elie Mystal, author of the New York Times bestseller Allow Me To Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, brings his legal acumen and signature snark to take down ten of what he considers the most awful laws on the books today. Join us as he explains how laws related to abortion, immigration, voting rights, religious freedom and others, actually make life worse rather than better for Americans and should be repealed completely. 

Mystal is well-known for not mincing words. As one of our most searing legal thinkers he offers a deeply analytical but accessible critique, connecting these laws to our country’s racist and misogynistic past. Together in conversation with professor and political commentator Christina Greer, he shares insights about this disconnect as well as thoughts on what can be done to challenge it, pointing the way to a saner tomorrow.

 

If it were up to me, I’d treat every law passed before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as presumptively unconstitutional. The government of this country was illegitimate when it ruled over people who had no ability to choose the rules.
~ Elie Mystal, from the introduction to Bad Law

Participants

Elie Mystal is the New York Times bestselling author of Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution as well as The Nation’s legal analyst and justice correspondent, and the legal editor of the More Perfect podcast on the Supreme Court for Radiolab. He is an Alfred Knobler Fellow at Type Media Center, and a frequent guest on MSNBC and Sirius XM. He lives in New York.

 

Christina Greer is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Fordham University, Lincoln Center campus. Her research and teaching focus on American politics, Black ethnic politics, campaigns and elections, and public opinion. She is the author of Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream, How to Build a Democracy from Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams, and co-editor of Black Politics in Transition: Immigration, Suburbanization, and Gentrification.
Greer writes a weekly column for The Amsterdam News, is a frequent political commentator on several media outlets, and is the co-host of FAQ-NYC.

                 

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Add to My Calendar 03/27/2025 06:30 pm 03/27/2025 08:00 pm America/New_York CBH Talk | Elie Mystal and Christina Greer Discuss “Bad Law” <p class="p1">In <em>Bad Law</em>, <strong>Elie Mystal</strong>, author of the <em>New York Times</em> bestseller <em>Allow Me To Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution,</em> brings his legal acumen and signature snark to take down ten of what he considers the most awful laws on the books today. Join us as he explains how laws related to abortion, immigration, voting rights, religious freedom and others, actually make life worse rather than better for Americans and should be repealed completely.&nbsp;</p><p class="p1">Mystal is well-known for not mincing words. As one of our most searing legal thinkers he offers a deeply analytical but accessible critique, connecting these laws to our country’s racist and misogynistic past. Together in conversation with professor and political commentator <strong>Christina Greer,</strong> he shares insights about this disconnect as well as thoughts on what can be done to challenge it, pointing the way to a saner tomorrow.</p><p class="p1">&nbsp;</p><h6 class="text-align-center"><em>If it were up to me, I’d treat every law passed before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as presumptively unconstitutional. The government of this country was… Brooklyn Public Library - Center for Brooklyn History MM/DD/YYYY 60

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