Derrick Bell
By I suspect Paul will have more to say about the passing of this giant of the American legal academy.
The same could be said about almost any paragraph in his obit, but this one seems particularly instructive about both American politics and Bell’s rare integrity:
In his 20s, while working at the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, he was told to give up his membership in the N.A.A.C.P., which his superiors believed posed a conflict of interest. Instead, he quit the Justice Department, ignoring the advice of friends to try to change things from within.
R.I.P.