Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer's Pursuit of Equal Justice for All

Tracing the remarkable career of renowned lawyer Stephen Bright, Robert L. Tsai explores the legal ideas that were central to the pursuit of equal justice in the early decades of mass incarceration. For nearly forty years, Bright led the Southern Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit that provided legal aid to people under death sentences. He argued four capital cases before the US Supreme Court--and won each one. With each victory, he brought to light how the law itself had become corrupted by the country's thirst for severe punishment, exposing prosecutorial misconduct, continuing racial inequality, and the shameful quality of legal representation for the poor. Organized around these four major Supreme Court cases, Demand the Impossible is an inspiring work of legal scholarship that reveals how seemingly small victories can go on to have outsized effects, and the incredible advancements one exceptional lawyer made for equal rights.