{"id":4150,"date":"2020-10-21T20:15:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T00:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hedgehogsandfoxes.org\/?p=4150"},"modified":"2020-10-28T09:40:10","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T13:40:10","slug":"joshua-jones-book-review-hamilton-and-the-law-lisa-a-tucker-ed-cornell-university-press-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hedgehogsandfoxes.org\/index.php\/2020\/10\/21\/joshua-jones-book-review-hamilton-and-the-law-lisa-a-tucker-ed-cornell-university-press-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Joshua Jones, Book Review, Hamilton and the Law (Lisa A. Tucker, ed., Cornell University Press, 2020) @CornellPress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hamilton and the Law<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Joshua A. Jones<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lisa A. Tucker, Professor of Law at Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, offers an informative and provocative essay collection about Hamilton: An American Musical <\/em>(\u201cHamilton\u201d<\/em>)[1]<\/a> and the Tony-winning musical\u2019s impact on American law.[2]<\/a> Beginning with a social media inquiry, Professor Tucker sourced essays that \u201ctell[ ] the story of how the legal landscape has been affected and changed by Hamilton<\/em>\u00a0 . . . .\u201d[3]<\/a> As editor, she has managed what must have been a daunting task to compile a wide variety of theses and viewpoints into a streamlined work that illustrates Hamilton <\/em>is an important allegory about U.S. history, our current strife, and hopes for the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thirty-three authors contributed to the collection, including Professor Tucker\u2019s, Tragedy in the Supreme Court: \u201cI\u2019d Rather Be Divisive Than Indecisive<\/em>.[4]<\/a> Professor Tucker crafted seven groups for the essays, each titled with a quote from Hamilton<\/em> lyrics. Part 1: \u201cAnd so the American Experiment Begins\u201d: The Constitution and the Three Branches of Government<\/em>,[5]<\/a> includes discussions about Hamilton\u2019s influence on originalism and the development of each branch of government. Part 2: \u201cAmerica, You Great Unfinished Symphony\u201d[6]<\/strong><\/a> <\/em>reflects upon our current reckoning with race relations and our comfort with a mythologized view of the Founding Fathers. Other sections explore Hamilton\u2019s <\/em>potential impact on the Second Amendment, racial discrimination, women\u2019s rights, and immigration.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One might ask, \u201cWhy Hamilton?\u201d Why did Lin-Manuel Miranda choose Hamilton, among all of the alleged founding fathers? And why cast only persons of color? Because Ron Chernow\u2019s Hamilton[8]<\/strong><\/a><\/em> inspired him to tell the story that Professor Tucker now shares through this collection \u2013the past is a myth, yet history informs and inspires the present.[9]<\/a> As explained by Kermit Roosevelt III, in his essay, Hamilton\u2019s America \u2013 and Ours<\/em>:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The purpose of [Miranda\u2019s choice of color-blind casting], and it\u2019s a purpose Hamilton<\/em> achieves brilliantly, is not hard to discern. It is to show modern America an image of the Founding in which we \u2013 and particularly people of color \u2013 can see ourselves. It is a story about America then, told by America now,\u2019 according to Lin-Manuel Miranda, but it is perhaps more precisely a story about America then told for <\/em>America now. Watching white slaveholders argue about their liberty (and fight against a nation that freed slaves) is alienating. That story of America excludes people of color. But in Hamilton\u2019s <\/em>reimagining, it\u2019s people of color who create America.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Miranda opens eyes with color-blind casting, shocking the audience awake from centuries of white-controlled narratives about the American experience.[11]<\/a> Professor Tucker uses Miranda\u2019s work to inspire realizations about current legal and cultural dilemmas, and through her careful choice and arrangement of the essays, she seems to urge an end to our polarized political climate. Hamilton <\/em>was the perfect vehicle for her message. She explained, \u201cThere simply is no question that Hamilton<\/em> has captured the American imagination in a way that no lesson on civics, government, the Founding of the nation, and the development of the U.S. Constitution has ever achieved.\u201d[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And as Hamilton\u2019s<\/em> influence on a wide, international audience weren\u2019t enough, remember that Alexander Hamilton wrote a large portion of the Federalist Papers<\/em>,[13]<\/a> which the U.S. Supreme Court has cited more than 324 times.[14]<\/a> In his essay, Some Alexander Hamilton, But Not so Much Hamilton In the New Supreme Court<\/em>, John Q. Barrett,[15]<\/a> suggests, \u201cWise Supreme Court advocates, knowing the justices\u2019 high regard for any view expressed in a Federalist <\/em>essay, cite to them and quote from them in their written briefs, and sometimes they invoke them in their oral arguments.\u201d[16]<\/a> This collection reiterates that Hamilton\u2019s legacy is a perpetual influence on American law.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The last section, \u201cWhat Is a Legacy?\u201d: Lessons from Hamilton Beyond the Libretto<\/em>,\u201d considers Hamilton\u2019s lasting legacies, such as his influence on federalism, banking, and corporate governance. It includes work by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, \u201cCabinet Battle #1: The Structure of Federalism<\/em>,\u201d a piece in which he lauds Hamilton\u2019s <\/em>song, Cabinet Battle #1<\/em>,[17]<\/a> to aid classroom discussions about debates surrounding the National Bank\u2019s creation. Chemerinsky\u2019s embrace of technology, apparently for the sake of employing Hamilton <\/em>in the classroom,[18]<\/a> should inspire any law professor to consider Hamilton<\/em>. Each of these essays, and the collection as a set, could easily be adapted for specific lectures, including Constitutional law, trifurcated power, society, race, gender, immigration, etc. It is a book that will entertain any legal scholar but that could also serve as readings or a text for a variety of law school or other professional school courses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dean Chemerinsky does not stand alone as a legal scholar juggernaut among the fine scholars who contributed,[19]<\/a> such as Gregory C. Garre,[20]<\/a> our forty-fourth solicitor general who has argued more than forty cases before the Supreme Court, or M. Todd Henderson,[21]<\/a> Michael J. Marks Professor of Law at University of Chicago. Yet, Professor Tucker, herself a Harvard Law alum,[22]<\/a> did not play an elitist game in selecting the authors. They hail from schools in all parts of the country and from a wide range in \u201crank,\u201d both public and private.[23]<\/a> Professor Tucker prioritized pieces that support her message.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Among the essays, Elizabeth Keyes\u2019s[24]<\/a> Hamilton\u2019s Immigrant Story Today<\/em>,[25]<\/a> calls for attention, given our current immigrant crisis that includes unnecessary and cruel family separations.[26]<\/a> It exemplifies Professor Tucker\u2019s consistency from which she chose essays that offer biography, U.S. civics, human rights, and Hamilton<\/em>\u2019s influence on law and current political dilemmas. Hamilton\u2019s Immigrant Story Today<\/em> uses Hamilton\u2019s immigration story and rise to prominence to illustrate the collection\u2019s theme that our perceptions about the past are drafted in the present, and conflicts between modern reality and founder myth can stall or inform necessary political action. Professor Keyes explains:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s story is possible because of the laws of his day. No immigration law prevented him from arriving in the United States in the early 1770\u2019s. He was a British subject who could travel freely among all parts of the world that Britain controlled . . . there was no such thing as being \u201cundocumented\u201d . . . until the late nineteenth century, when our country started excluding Asians, then poor people, then LGBT people and so on. . . Hamilton could study without needing a social security number to register for classes, he could work without needing a work permit, he could join the military without proving his lawful status. He had challenges aplenty, but immigration law was not one.[27]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Professor Keyes highlights the dissonance between the myth that, despite Hamilton\u2019s \u201cimmigration\u201d status, ignores the privilege that a Scottish white man enjoyed in the 18th<\/sup> century. White narratives portray Hamilton\u2019s arrival in the mainland colonies as an essential development for American independence; he was an immigrant patriot who pulled himself up by the bootstraps. Yet, those same voices argue that today\u2019s child refugees and their desperate parents might disrupt \u201cour\u201d comfort (i.e. narratives that perpetuate white supremacy).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Professor Tucker clearly spent considerable time with Hamilton<\/em>. She quotes lyrics throughout the book, as do the essayists, in her titles and her arrangement for the seven groupings. She also proves herself an Alexander Hamilton scholar. Professor Tucker successfully assembled thirty-three essays that, with completely unique theses, offer Hamilton\u2019s biography and his role in Constitutional and U.S. History. She shows us a look in the mirror and asks – can we abandon the founder myths so that we can realize our present-day reality and strive towards substantive equity for all. Hamilton<\/em>, adored by millions, may be the pop culture medium that helps us heal our inconsistent conceptualizations of America\u2019s past, present, and future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Applause to you, Professor Tucker.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More about the book here<\/a>, at the publisher’s website.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joshua A. Jones is Visiting Assistant Professor, Indiana University McKinney School of Law, and a member of the Editorial Board of Hedgehogs and Foxes.<\/p>\n

[N.B.: Professor Jones received a free copy of Hamilton and the Law from the publisher in exchange for his honest review.\u2013Ed.]<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Lisa A. Tucker, Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today\u2019s Most Contentious Legal Issues Through the Hit Musical<\/em>, (ILR: Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY 2020).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Drexel University Robert H. Kline School of Law, Faculty Bio: Lisa A. Tucker<\/em>, (last visited September 21, 2020) https:\/\/rb.gy\/ifq8l3; Kelly Lawler, How Many Tony\u2019s Did Hamilton Win<\/em>, USA Today (June 13, 2016) https:\/\/rb.gy\/d8juld.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Supra<\/em> note 1, Preface at xii.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Id<\/em> at 17.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Id<\/em>. at 1.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Id<\/em>. at 43.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0 See<\/em> Id<\/em>. at 67, 95, 119, and 143.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Id<\/em>. at 82.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>\u00a0 See <\/em>Kermit Roosevelt III, Hamilton\u2019s America \u2013 And Ours<\/em>, in Lisa A. Tucker, Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today\u2019s Most Contentious Legal Issues Through the Hit Musical<\/em>, 45, 45-46 (Lisa A. Tucker ed., IRL: Cornell University Press 2020) (\u201cThe present often ascribes its values to the past, boto find normative footing in tradition and to tell a national story of continuity, progress, and success.)).<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Id<\/em>. at 47 (internal citations omitted).<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a>\u00a0 See generally Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a>\u00a0 Supra<\/em> note 1 at Preface p. xiii
\n[13]<\/a>\u00a0 John Q. Barrett, Some Alexander Hamlton, but Not So Much Hamilton, <\/em>in Lisa A. Tucker, Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today\u2019s Most Contentious Legal Issues Through the Hit Musical<\/em>, 12, 12 (Lisa A. Tucker ed., IRL: Cornell University Press 2020) \u00a0(citing Buckner F. Melton, Jr., The Supreme Court and The Federalist: A Citation List and Analysis, 1789 \u2013 1996<\/em>, 85 Ky. L.J. 243 (1996-97); Buckner F. Melton, Jr. And Jennifer J. Miller, The Supreme Court and The Federalist: A Supplement, 1996-2001<\/em>, 90 Ky. L.J. 415 (2001-2); Buckner F. Melton, Jr. And Carol Willcox Melton, the Supreme Court and The Federalist: A Supplement, 2001-2006<\/em>, 95 Ky. L.J. 749 (2006-7); but see also <\/em>Library of Congress, Research Guides: <\/em>Federalist Papers: Primary Documents in American History<\/em>, (last visited Sept. 21, 2020) https:\/\/rb.gy\/9ikw9r (noting that many of the Federalist<\/em> essays attributed to Hamilton could have been written by Madison, or by both; thus 51 may be questionable)).
\n[14]<\/a>\u00a0 Id<\/em>. at 13.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a>\u00a0 Id<\/em>. at 12.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a>\u00a0 Id<\/em>. at 13, end notes 6 and 7.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a>\u00a0 Lin-Manuel Miranda and Cast, Cabinet Battle #1 on Hamilton: An American Musical, Original Broadway Cast Recording (Atlantic Records 2016) https:\/\/youtu.be\/dSYW61XQZeo.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a>\u00a0 Erwin Chemerinsky, \u201cCabinet Battle #1\u201d: The Structure of Federalism<\/em>, <\/em>in Lisa A. Tucker, Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today\u2019s Most Contentious Legal Issues Through the Hit Musical<\/em>, 229, 229 (Lisa A. Tucker ed., IRL: Cornell University Press 2020).<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a>\u00a0 For a list of contributors and short biographies see <\/em>Supra nt. 1 at 257.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a>\u00a0 Latham & Watkins, LLP, Global Directory: Gregory G. Garre<\/em>, (last visited Sept. 21, 2020) https:\/\/www.lw.com\/people\/gregory-garre.<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a>\u00a0 The University of Chicago Law School, Faculty Directory: M. Todd Henderson<\/em>, (last visited Sept. 21, 2020) https:\/\/www.law.uchicago.edu\/faculty\/henderson.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a>\u00a0 See supra<\/em> note 2.<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a>\u00a0 See<\/em> supra<\/em> note xviii.<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a>\u00a0 University of Baltimore School of Law, Faculty Directory<\/em>: Elizabeth Keyes<\/em>, (last visited Sept. 21, 2020) http:\/\/law.ubalt.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/keyes.cfm.<\/p>\n

[25]<\/a> See supra <\/em>note 1 at 157.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/a>\u00a0 See <\/em>Christina Caron, June 19: Children Affected by the Crisis at the Southern Border<\/em>, The New York Times and NYT Parenting (first pub. June 19, 2019, last updated April 20, 2020) https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/19\/parenting\/migrant-children-detained.html.<\/p>\n

[27]<\/a>\u00a0 Elizabeth Keyes, Hamilton\u2019s Immigrant Story Today<\/em>, 137, 139 in Lisa A. Tucker, Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today\u2019s Most Contentious Legal Issues Through the Hit Musical<\/em>, 12, 12 (Lisa A. Tucker ed., IRL: Cornell University Press 2020).<\/p>\n\n

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