E-mail:
Jack Balkin: jackbalkin at yahoo.com
Bruce Ackerman bruce.ackerman at yale.edu
Ian Ayres ian.ayres at yale.edu
Corey Brettschneider corey_brettschneider at brown.edu
Mary Dudziak mary.l.dudziak at emory.edu
Joey Fishkin joey.fishkin at gmail.com
Heather Gerken heather.gerken at yale.edu
Abbe Gluck abbe.gluck at yale.edu
Mark Graber mgraber at law.umaryland.edu
Stephen Griffin sgriffin at tulane.edu
Jonathan Hafetz jonathan.hafetz at shu.edu
Jeremy Kessler jkessler at law.columbia.edu
Andrew Koppelman akoppelman at law.northwestern.edu
Marty Lederman msl46 at law.georgetown.edu
Sanford Levinson slevinson at law.utexas.edu
David Luban david.luban at gmail.com
Gerard Magliocca gmaglioc at iupui.edu
Jason Mazzone mazzonej at illinois.edu
Linda McClain lmcclain at bu.edu
John Mikhail mikhail at law.georgetown.edu
Frank Pasquale pasquale.frank at gmail.com
Nate Persily npersily at gmail.com
Michael Stokes Paulsen michaelstokespaulsen at gmail.com
Deborah Pearlstein dpearlst at yu.edu
Rick Pildes rick.pildes at nyu.edu
David Pozen dpozen at law.columbia.edu
Richard Primus raprimus at umich.edu
K. Sabeel Rahmansabeel.rahman at brooklaw.edu
Alice Ristroph alice.ristroph at shu.edu
Neil Siegel siegel at law.duke.edu
David Super david.super at law.georgetown.edu
Brian Tamanaha btamanaha at wulaw.wustl.edu
Nelson Tebbe nelson.tebbe at brooklaw.edu
Mark Tushnet mtushnet at law.harvard.edu
Adam Winkler winkler at ucla.edu
On August 21, a total solar eclipse will arrive
mid-morning on the coast of Oregon. The moon’s shadow will be about 70 miles
wide, and it will race across the country faster than the speed of sound,
exiting the eastern seaboard shortly before 3 p.m. local time. It has been dubbed
the Great American Eclipse, and along most of its path, there live almost no
black people.
Presumably, this is not explained by the implicit bias of the
solar system. It is a matter of population density, and more specifically
geographic variations in population density by race, for which the sun and the
moon cannot be held responsible. Still, an eclipse chaser is always tempted to
believe that the skies are relaying a message. At a moment of deep disagreement
about the nation’s best path forward, here comes a giant round shadow, drawing
a line either to cut the country in two or to unite it as one. Ancient peoples
watched total eclipses with awe and often dread, seeing in the darkness omens
of doom. The Great American Eclipse may or may not tell us anything about our
future, but its peculiar path could remind us of something about our past—what
it was we meant to be doing, and what we actually did along the way. And if it
seems we need no reminding, consider this: We tend to backlight our history,
and so run the risk of trying to recover a glory that never existed. When the
light in August changes, watch carefully.