Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
@demandtimpossible.bsky.social
Chronicling the legendary career of Kentuckian Stephen Bright, lifelong advocate for the poor who led the Southern Center for Human Rights for nearly 40 years. Author: @robertltsai.bsky.social. Published by W.W. Norton 2024. http://amzn.to/45LFzNg
Pinned
“Beautifully written.” —Erwin Chemerinsky
“Inspiring.” —Bryan Stevenson
“Riveting.” —Carol Steiker
“Deeply moving.” —Heather Ann Thompson
“Inspiring.” —Bryan Stevenson
“Riveting.” —Carol Steiker
“Deeply moving.” —Heather Ann Thompson
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
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“The race to incarcerate made a new generation of advocates crucial to the survival of liberal institutions and values in the age of mass incarceration—including the ideal of adversary justice, racial equality, and the legitimacy of a democratic state, whose overriding goals are security & justice”
An Exercise in Political Imagination: the Day Stephen Bright and Bryan Stevenson Debated William F. Buckley
Bright and Stevenson defended the abolition of capital punishment at a moment when political support for that movement reached its nadir.
www.liberalcurrents.com
September 27, 2025 at 11:46 PM
“The race to incarcerate made a new generation of advocates crucial to the survival of liberal institutions and values in the age of mass incarceration—including the ideal of adversary justice, racial equality, and the legitimacy of a democratic state, whose overriding goals are security & justice”
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Listen to a sample from Demand The Impossible, about McWilliams v. Dunn, which raises the issue of what an intellectually disabled man facing the death penalty is due. @demandtimpossible.bsky.social
September 26, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Listen to a sample from Demand The Impossible, about McWilliams v. Dunn, which raises the issue of what an intellectually disabled man facing the death penalty is due. @demandtimpossible.bsky.social
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
“The United States is unlikely to be the most crime-ridden country in the world, but for the last fifty years, its policies have been driven by a perception that social disorder lurks around every corner.”
Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer's Pursuit of Equal Justice for All
amzn.to
August 11, 2025 at 4:57 PM
“The United States is unlikely to be the most crime-ridden country in the world, but for the last fifty years, its policies have been driven by a perception that social disorder lurks around every corner.”
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
I change my mind about AI
August 3, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I change my mind about AI
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
“Tsai writes about constitutional law with a focus on the conditions and structures in society that produce inequality…. the path of legal reform through the courts is narrow and daunting.”
Legal Agitator of Our Time | Los Angeles Review of Books
Rodger Citron reviews Robert L. Tsai’s “Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer’s Pursuit of Equal Justice for All.”
lareviewofbooks.org
July 24, 2025 at 2:14 PM
“Tsai writes about constitutional law with a focus on the conditions and structures in society that produce inequality…. the path of legal reform through the courts is narrow and daunting.”
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
“The contents of the document were explosive. Below the heading, ‘Result,’ someone had scrawled figures for how many African Americans and women should be placed on master jury lists if one wanted to underrepresent their numbers on juries.” amzn.to/45LFzNg
July 3, 2025 at 12:49 PM
“The contents of the document were explosive. Below the heading, ‘Result,’ someone had scrawled figures for how many African Americans and women should be placed on master jury lists if one wanted to underrepresent their numbers on juries.” amzn.to/45LFzNg
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Back at it to discuss birthright citizenship and nationwide injunctions
June 27, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Back at it to discuss birthright citizenship and nationwide injunctions
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
“Unfortunately, this ruling raises more questions than it answers.”
June 28, 2025 at 4:20 PM
“Unfortunately, this ruling raises more questions than it answers.”
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Pleased to join Kristen Welker and former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg on #MeetThePress to discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling ending universal injunctions in the birthright citizenship cases.
June 28, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Pleased to join Kristen Welker and former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg on #MeetThePress to discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling ending universal injunctions in the birthright citizenship cases.
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
My brief thoughts on the Supreme Court ruling on nationwide injunctions (and birthright citizenship). More to come. www.bu.edu/articles/202...
June 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM
My brief thoughts on the Supreme Court ruling on nationwide injunctions (and birthright citizenship). More to come. www.bu.edu/articles/202...
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
“Tsai argues that a public defender movement ought to be revived; racial justice acts need public support; and a lot of work can be done to end the death penalty.” @futurehindsight.bsky.social
Pursuing Equal Justice: Robert Tsai — Future Hindsight
Robert L. Tsai is the author of Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer’s Pursuit of Equal Justice for All and Professor of Law and Harry Elwood Warren Memorial Scholar at Boston University School of Law. W...
www.futurehindsight.com
June 26, 2025 at 2:40 PM
“Tsai argues that a public defender movement ought to be revived; racial justice acts need public support; and a lot of work can be done to end the death penalty.” @futurehindsight.bsky.social
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Stephen Bright in his office at the Southern Center for Human Rights, taken sometime in the 1980’s. He kept photos of his clients to remind him of what they were like before they encountered the criminal justice system. @demandtimpossible.bsky.social
June 25, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Stephen Bright in his office at the Southern Center for Human Rights, taken sometime in the 1980’s. He kept photos of his clients to remind him of what they were like before they encountered the criminal justice system. @demandtimpossible.bsky.social
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
On @meetthepress.com I spoke about the strong tradition in this country that “boots on the ground are a threat to liberty”
June 9, 2025 at 11:26 PM
On @meetthepress.com I spoke about the strong tradition in this country that “boots on the ground are a threat to liberty”
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Can you still call Trump “a populist autocrat” on television these days?
June 11, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Can you still call Trump “a populist autocrat” on television these days?
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Always love visiting my favorite bookstore
June 19, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Always love visiting my favorite bookstore
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
“A truly compelling account of how Stephen Bright, one of the nation’s greatest lawyers, devoted his life to demanding justice from the criminal justice system throughout the South…. His career, as told by Tsai, demonstrates how much good a lawyer committed to public justice can do.”
Georgetown Law Faculty’s Best Reads of 2024
Throughout the academic year, Georgetown Law faculty inspire students and colleagues with their insights, scholarship and expertise. But what inspires them?
www.law.georgetown.edu
June 21, 2025 at 5:59 PM
“A truly compelling account of how Stephen Bright, one of the nation’s greatest lawyers, devoted his life to demanding justice from the criminal justice system throughout the South…. His career, as told by Tsai, demonstrates how much good a lawyer committed to public justice can do.”
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Many thanks to @davidcole-gtown.bsky.social for nominating @demandtimpossible.bsky.social as one of 2024’s top reads. @georgetownlaw.bsky.social bit.ly/4jENbHk
June 4, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Many thanks to @davidcole-gtown.bsky.social for nominating @demandtimpossible.bsky.social as one of 2024’s top reads. @georgetownlaw.bsky.social bit.ly/4jENbHk
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Cole writes: “A truly compelling account of how Stephen Bright, one of the nation's greatest lawyers, devoted his life to demanding justice from the criminal justice system throughout the South.”
June 4, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Cole writes: “A truly compelling account of how Stephen Bright, one of the nation's greatest lawyers, devoted his life to demanding justice from the criminal justice system throughout the South.”
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
I look forward to reading this! <3
“Beautifully written.” —Erwin Chemerinsky
“Inspiring.” —Bryan Stevenson
“Riveting.” —Carol Steiker
“Deeply moving.” —Heather Ann Thompson
“Inspiring.” —Bryan Stevenson
“Riveting.” —Carol Steiker
“Deeply moving.” —Heather Ann Thompson
June 3, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I look forward to reading this! <3
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Great to see “After McCleskey” as lead article in Issue 5. bit.ly/3vWb22d
May 26, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Great to see “After McCleskey” as lead article in Issue 5. bit.ly/3vWb22d
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
Reposted by Demand The Impossible (Norton 2024)
As the Supreme Court became increasingly conservative and interested in reconsidering Warren Court precedents, Bright had to act as a legal pragmatist—committed to humanistic principles but flexible about the means to sustain and enforce them.
May 21, 2025 at 5:24 PM
As the Supreme Court became increasingly conservative and interested in reconsidering Warren Court precedents, Bright had to act as a legal pragmatist—committed to humanistic principles but flexible about the means to sustain and enforce them.