Critical Theory Returns with a Vengeance

The second of five serialized posts that summarize my book Lawless.

In my last post, I laid out my how my personal experience led me to “do the work” and write Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites. That research uncovered some disturbing differences from when I was in law school in the early 2000s. Back then, critical theory was a spent force. But now “the crits” are back, even stronger, and not just in literature and sociology departments.

Critical legal studies (CLS), which developed in the 1970s, teaches that laws enshrine biases against marginalized groups and thus preserve the status quo. CLS scholars also criticize formalism, which they see as overly focused on analyzing the logic of doctrines, principles, and texts without considering broader social and political implications. From their perspective, the law is simply the codification of the cultural and political preferences of those in power.