Righting Wrongs

Abstract

What is the meaning of civil rights? Are there some wrongs that civil rights cannot address? In this Commentary, Professor Leti Volpp discusses two contributions to this Symposium that address the future of civil rights. Professor Richard Ford cautions that civil rights protections should not be extended to claims of cultural identity. In contrast, Professors Sharon Hom and Eric Yamamoto seek to revitalize civil rights to create a new movement, transnational in scope. These contributions radically differ in the work they would ask of civil rights. Professor Volpp critically engages the assumptions that underlie these different proposals in order to suggest the consequences of their adoption.