Lane Lecture: The Public School as the Preeminent Site of Constitutional Law

Abstract

This is my first trip to Nebraska, but it has long been a land of fascination for me. I remember being eight years old and watching Mike Rozier, the incredible running back for the University of Nebraska, run all over the nation. He was my favorite player when I was a kid and I thought, "Someday I will make my way to Nebraska." That I am doing so today as the Lane lecturer is truly an honor. This is a wonderful, even august institution. I am humbled to join the distinguished collection of scholars who have previously delivered this lecture, and I am grateful to you all for attending.

I thought that I would begin my telling you a little bit about how I got interested in this subject. One of the first questions that people ask about my book is, "How long did it take to write?" Whatever else its virtues, it is not a short book. The answer to that question is that it took me either four years to write or three decades to write, depending upon how you count. After I joined the University of Chicago faculty in 2014, I turned my attention in earnest to writing the book and got away from law review articles for a while. But the roots of the project go back to my being a kid growing up in Washington, D.C. in the 1980s.

I grew up in Southeast Washington, east of the Anacostia River, which is a predominately black neighborhood. Starting at a very young age, I traveled from far Southeast to upper Northwest Washington to attend fifth grade where the demographics of the city are quite different. Upper Northwest is the most privileged segment of Washington, D.C. That required me to get on a bus and two different subway lines and have a pretty long walk as well. I would think during this daily journey, "Why in the world am I having to wake up so early to get to fifth grade?" Also, "What are the opportunities that I am gaining as a result of this trek?" Conversely, "What are the opportunities that my neighbors are losing out on as a result of attending the neighborhood school?"