From Ellis Island to today’s debates over immigration and citizenship, questions of inclusion and exclusion have long shaped the nation’s identity. Inspired by Korematsu v. United States, this program explores how fear, race, and national security have influenced who is recognized as fully “American.” In his dissent, Robert H. Jackson warned of the dangers of allowing racial discrimination under the Constitution. Join us for a timely conversation on citizenship, national identity, and the constitutional boundaries of belonging.
Robert L. Tsai is Professor of Law and Harry Elwood Warren Memorial Scholar at Boston University School of Law, where he teaches constitutional law, presidential leadership, and individual rights. For the 2024–2025 academic year, he serves as the Laurance Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow at Princeton University’s University Center for Human Values.
A leading scholar of constitutional culture and democratic development, Professor Tsai’s work explores how legal ideas shape political life, particularly in areas such as inequality, popular sovereignty, and institutional design. He is the author of four books, including Demand the Impossible: One Lawyer’s Pursuit of Equal Justice for All (2024). Additionally, Professor Tsai’s scholarship has appeared in leading law reviews and his commentary has been featured in outlets such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, NPR, and MSNBC. A frequent public speaker, he has delivered Constitution Day lectures at institutions across the country, including the National Archives and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
He is a founding board member of the Journal of American Constitutional History and was elected to the American Law Institute in 2023. Professor Tsai earned his J.D. from Yale Law School and his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He previously clerked on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
The Robert H. Jackson Center is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization that is dedicated to presenting accurate and balanced information about complex issues. The opinions expressed by various guest speakers, panelists, and authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center, its Board, and supporters.
The Center fulfills its educational mission by welcoming diverse views and by providing a forum to explore a wide range of perspectives on often controversial legal and public policy issues. While we make an effort to ensure the information we provide is accurate and balanced, we welcome your comments, suggestions, or correction of any factual errors.
Since 2001, the Robert H. Jackson Center has preserved the values embodied in the life and works of Robert H. Jackson, who served as U.S. Solicitor General, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and Chief U.S. Prosecutor of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Through programs, presentations, exhibits, media, internships, and scholarship, the Center seeks to demonstrate to current and future generations the relevance and applicability of Justice Jackson’s ideas and writings. The Center provides educational content on the United States Constitution and Supreme Court, civil rights, the legacy of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and international human rights, and the rule of law. During his illustrious career, Justice Jackson addressed these subjects, and the Center recognizes his thinking remains relevant today.
