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Martha Minow

Harvard University, Harvard Law School, Faculty Member

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Martha Minow is the 300th Anniversary University Professor and former dean of Harvard Law School, where she teaches courses on constitutional law and on law and social change. She has written many influential books and articles about law and society.

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Articles and Reviews by Martha Minow

Martha Minow, “Privatizing Social Services,” in Alon Harel and Avihay Dorfman, eds., Cambridge Handbook on Privatization (forthcoming)

Martha Minow, “Do Alternative Justice Mechanisms Deserve Recognition in International Criminal Law?: Truth Commissions, Amnesties, and Complementarity at the International Criminal Court,” Harvard International Law Journal, vol. 60, no. 1 (Winter 2019): 1-45

Either response is better than sience, but comparing prosecutions and reconciliatory steps brings... more Either response is better than sience, but comparing prosecutions and reconciliatory steps brings tough choices, both legally and politill. Adversarial criminal prosecution holds the promise of generating facts, holding individuas accountab, and deterring future horrific conduct, but criminal trials ao can be time-consuming, expensive, inevitably slective, remote in time and location from the lives of those most affected, and indiffrent to the goals of social peace and personal healing. Truth and reconciliation commissions, exemplified by South Africa's effort follouing th end of Apartheid, represent an alternative justice mechanism that pursues truth-telling and opportunities for reconciliation, rather than punishment. Such methods can provide occasions for individual wi rongdoers to apologize, and for victims and survivors to forgive, but these methods can also b marred by corruption, compromise, and an appearance of condoning terrible acts. Trading truth for punishment m(y offer a predicate for social reconciliation, but unonditional amnesties following terrible vioence-and pardons following flawed trias-slikdy signal political pressures to sacrifice justice.

Martha Minow, “Preface: ‘The Whole People Must Take Upon Themselves the Education of the Whole People,’” in Kimberly Robinson, ed., A Federal Right to Education: Fundamental Questions for Our Democracy (New York: NYU Press, 2019)

Martha Minow, “The Changing Ecosystem of News and Challenges for Freedom of Press,” Loyola Law Review, vol. 64, no. 3 (Fall 2018): 499-555

Martha Minow and Joseph Singer, “Civil Discourse,” Sight Line (Covenant Foundation, 2018)

Martha Minow, “Could Mass Detentions Without Process Happen Here?” in Cass Sunstein, ed., Can It Happen Here?: Authoritarianism in America (New York: HarperCollins, 2018), 313-328

Martha Minow, “Marking 200 Years of Legal Education: Traditions of Change, Reasoned Debate, and Finding Differences and Commonalities,” Harvard Law Review, vol. 130, no. 9 (October 2017): 2279-2297

Martha Minow, “Upstanders, Whistle-blowers, and Rescuers,” Utah Law Review (2017): 815-837

Victor Koningsberger spoke from conscience during World War II and stood up publicly for Jewish c... more Victor Koningsberger spoke from conscience during World War II and stood up publicly for Jewish colleagues discharged from the University by German occupiers. He acted with courage and broke the pattern of silence that accompanies so many periods of oppression. We have a word in English for those who are silent in such moments. These are bystanders. I was personally touched to take part in honoring Professor Konigsberger at his home university in the Netherlands. The best tribute is to examine and support what it takes to speak out and act against what is wrong. We can do so both to honor individual acts of courage and to examine what social context and structures can support such acts-not only by those individuals with remarkable courage and perhaps obsession, but also by the rest of us.

Martha Minow, “Alternatives to the State Action Doctrine in the Era of Privatization, Mandatory Arbitration, and the Internet: Directing Law to Service Human Needs,” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, vol. 52, no. 1 (Winter 2017): 145-168

Martha Minow, “Continually Re-Thinking: What Would Mary Joe Frug Do?” New England Law Review, vol. 50, no. 3 (Spring 2016): 269-272

Martha Minow, “Foreword,” in Samuel Estreicher and Joy Radice, eds., Beyond Elite Law: Access to Civil Justice in America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), xv-xvii

Martha Minow, “Exploratory Project: Access to Justice,” Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 49, no. 2 (Winter 2016): 25-27

Martha Minow, “Contributor,” in Marie Mercat-Bruns. ed.., Discrimination at Work: Comparing European, French, and American Law (Oakland: University of California Press, 2016)

Martha Minow, “Foreword: Feminist Legal Theory, Primed for Action,” in Nancy Levit and Robert Verchick, eds., Feminist Legal Theory, Primed for Action, second edition (New York: NYU Press, 2016)

Martha Minow, “Primary Colors – Review of ‘Let The People Rule - Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary’, by Geoffrey Cowan,” The New Rambler (2016)

Martha Minow, “Unlikely Alliances from Woodstock to Wounded Knee - Review of Hippies, Indians, and the Fight for Red Power’, by Sherry L. Smith,” The New Rambler (2015)

Martha Minow, “Altruistic Evil – Review of ‘Not In God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence’, by Jonathan Sacks,” The New Rambler (2015)

Martha Minow, “Preface: The Enduring Burdens of the Universal and the Different in the Insular Cases,” in Gerald L. Neuman, ed., Reconsidering the Insular Cases: The Past and Future of the American Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015)

Martha Minow, “Forgiveness, Law, and Justice,” California Law Review, vol. 103, no. 6 (December 2015): 1615-1646

for fine research assistance and helpful discussions; and Julianna Ratner for editorial suggestio... more for fine research assistance and helpful discussions; and Julianna Ratner for editorial suggestions. For comments on debt, thanks go to Seth Klarman, Holger Spamann, and the audience at the Navin Narayan Memorial Lecture, which I delivered at Harvard University on October 29, 2014. 1 am grateful to all involved with the Jorde Symposium, especially commentators

Martha Minow, “Questions Lawyers Must Answer,” Legal Education for the Future, vol. 1, no. 5 (July 2015)

Martha Minow, “Privatizing Social Services,” in Alon Harel and Avihay Dorfman, eds., Cambridge Handbook on Privatization (forthcoming)

Martha Minow, “Do Alternative Justice Mechanisms Deserve Recognition in International Criminal Law?: Truth Commissions, Amnesties, and Complementarity at the International Criminal Court,” Harvard International Law Journal, vol. 60, no. 1 (Winter 2019): 1-45

Either response is better than sience, but comparing prosecutions and reconciliatory steps brings... more Either response is better than sience, but comparing prosecutions and reconciliatory steps brings tough choices, both legally and politill. Adversarial criminal prosecution holds the promise of generating facts, holding individuas accountab, and deterring future horrific conduct, but criminal trials ao can be time-consuming, expensive, inevitably slective, remote in time and location from the lives of those most affected, and indiffrent to the goals of social peace and personal healing. Truth and reconciliation commissions, exemplified by South Africa's effort follouing th end of Apartheid, represent an alternative justice mechanism that pursues truth-telling and opportunities for reconciliation, rather than punishment. Such methods can provide occasions for individual wi rongdoers to apologize, and for victims and survivors to forgive, but these methods can also b marred by corruption, compromise, and an appearance of condoning terrible acts. Trading truth for punishment m(y offer a predicate for social reconciliation, but unonditional amnesties following terrible vioence-and pardons following flawed trias-slikdy signal political pressures to sacrifice justice.

Martha Minow, “Preface: ‘The Whole People Must Take Upon Themselves the Education of the Whole People,’” in Kimberly Robinson, ed., A Federal Right to Education: Fundamental Questions for Our Democracy (New York: NYU Press, 2019)

Martha Minow, “The Changing Ecosystem of News and Challenges for Freedom of Press,” Loyola Law Review, vol. 64, no. 3 (Fall 2018): 499-555

Martha Minow and Joseph Singer, “Civil Discourse,” Sight Line (Covenant Foundation, 2018)

Martha Minow, “Could Mass Detentions Without Process Happen Here?” in Cass Sunstein, ed., Can It Happen Here?: Authoritarianism in America (New York: HarperCollins, 2018), 313-328

Martha Minow, “Marking 200 Years of Legal Education: Traditions of Change, Reasoned Debate, and Finding Differences and Commonalities,” Harvard Law Review, vol. 130, no. 9 (October 2017): 2279-2297

Martha Minow, “Upstanders, Whistle-blowers, and Rescuers,” Utah Law Review (2017): 815-837

Victor Koningsberger spoke from conscience during World War II and stood up publicly for Jewish c... more Victor Koningsberger spoke from conscience during World War II and stood up publicly for Jewish colleagues discharged from the University by German occupiers. He acted with courage and broke the pattern of silence that accompanies so many periods of oppression. We have a word in English for those who are silent in such moments. These are bystanders. I was personally touched to take part in honoring Professor Konigsberger at his home university in the Netherlands. The best tribute is to examine and support what it takes to speak out and act against what is wrong. We can do so both to honor individual acts of courage and to examine what social context and structures can support such acts-not only by those individuals with remarkable courage and perhaps obsession, but also by the rest of us.

Martha Minow, “Alternatives to the State Action Doctrine in the Era of Privatization, Mandatory Arbitration, and the Internet: Directing Law to Service Human Needs,” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, vol. 52, no. 1 (Winter 2017): 145-168

Martha Minow, “Continually Re-Thinking: What Would Mary Joe Frug Do?” New England Law Review, vol. 50, no. 3 (Spring 2016): 269-272

Martha Minow, “Foreword,” in Samuel Estreicher and Joy Radice, eds., Beyond Elite Law: Access to Civil Justice in America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), xv-xvii

Martha Minow, “Exploratory Project: Access to Justice,” Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 49, no. 2 (Winter 2016): 25-27

Martha Minow, “Contributor,” in Marie Mercat-Bruns. ed.., Discrimination at Work: Comparing European, French, and American Law (Oakland: University of California Press, 2016)

Martha Minow, “Foreword: Feminist Legal Theory, Primed for Action,” in Nancy Levit and Robert Verchick, eds., Feminist Legal Theory, Primed for Action, second edition (New York: NYU Press, 2016)

Martha Minow, “Primary Colors – Review of ‘Let The People Rule - Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary’, by Geoffrey Cowan,” The New Rambler (2016)

Martha Minow, “Unlikely Alliances from Woodstock to Wounded Knee - Review of Hippies, Indians, and the Fight for Red Power’, by Sherry L. Smith,” The New Rambler (2015)

Martha Minow, “Altruistic Evil – Review of ‘Not In God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence’, by Jonathan Sacks,” The New Rambler (2015)

Martha Minow, “Preface: The Enduring Burdens of the Universal and the Different in the Insular Cases,” in Gerald L. Neuman, ed., Reconsidering the Insular Cases: The Past and Future of the American Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015)

Martha Minow, “Forgiveness, Law, and Justice,” California Law Review, vol. 103, no. 6 (December 2015): 1615-1646

for fine research assistance and helpful discussions; and Julianna Ratner for editorial suggestio... more for fine research assistance and helpful discussions; and Julianna Ratner for editorial suggestions. For comments on debt, thanks go to Seth Klarman, Holger Spamann, and the audience at the Navin Narayan Memorial Lecture, which I delivered at Harvard University on October 29, 2014. 1 am grateful to all involved with the Jorde Symposium, especially commentators

Martha Minow, “Questions Lawyers Must Answer,” Legal Education for the Future, vol. 1, no. 5 (July 2015)