Awakening From The Dream: Civil Rights Under Siege and the New Struggle for Equal Justice

Awakening from the Dream: Civil Rights Under Siege and the New Struggle for Equal Justice exposes the Supreme Court’s methodical dismantling of federal laws that advance inclusion, equal membership, political participation, and economic mobility in our diverse national community. The ongoing Federalism Revolution has crippled Congress’s legislative powers and made it difficult for individuals to bring suit to enforce their civil rights. Activists, law professors, public interest lawyers, and students discuss some of the Americans who have been deprived of justice by this rollback, making vivid the impact of the increasingly right-wing federal judiciary.

The book, which stems from a Columbia Law School conference celebrating the birth of the National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights, is divided into five parts.

Part I places the Federalism Revolution into historical perspective and explains the relationship between federalism—the struggle for power between the states and the federal government—and civil rights. Part II illustrates how the rollback of civil rights has affected the lives of all Americans—the elderly, workers, language minorities, women, the disabled, immigrants, people of color, and sexual minorities. Part III discusses how those decisions have, in addition, restricted access to courts to ensure the fair provision of government services, including education, health care, the environment, our criminal justice system, and immigration. Part IV exposes the incoherency of the Court’s appeal to federalism—which has veiled its campaign to dismantle federal protections for individual rights. Part V offers readers hopeful approaches to revitalizing civil rights and democracy.

The foreword is written by Professor Erwin Chemerinsky of Duke University School of Law.