Judicial Commentator/Author Elie Mystal Speaking at Loyola, Oct. 19

BALTIMORE – Acclaimed judicial commentator Elie Mystal will present “The Constitution and the Right to Privacy” at Loyola University Maryland’s Inaugural Humanities in Action talk.

Free and open to the general public as well as the region’s academic communities, the talk takes place Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 6 p.m. in McGuire Hall (Andrew White Student Center, 4501 North Charles St., Baltimore, Md. 21210).

Mystal will discuss Supreme Court jurisprudence over the years and especially the right-ward lurch that the current Roberts Court has taken most recently with the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Known for writing about the law and politics, breaking down Supreme Court decisions and presenting up-to-the-minute coverage of Supreme Court confirmation battles, Mystal is the justice correspondent for The Nation, where he writes about politics and social and racial justice.

He also is a legal contributor to the More Perfect podcast on WNYC and a former executive editor of Above the Law – a website with about 2 million unique visitors. His first book, Allow Me To Retort – A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, was on the New York Times’ Best Seller list in April 2022.

In addition to appearing regularly on MSNBC since 2018 (on All In With Chris Hayes, The Beat With Ari Melber, A.M. Joy with Joy Reid and Up with David Gura), Mystal has been a frequent guest on the Brian Lehrer Show, The Dean Obedallah Show and Signal Boost with Zerlina Maxwell & Jess McIntosh.

He’s also appeared on The Mike Huckabee Show, The Megyn Kelly Show and Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, and done various appearances on CNBC and Fox Business about legal industry news. Mystal, who received his undergraduate degree in government from Harvard University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, began his career as an attorney with Debevoise and Plimpton from 2003-2005.

“Elie Mystal’s book is a rare combination of erudition, a black man's rage and a large dollop of laugh-out-loud funny,” said Humanities in Action Chair Martha Taylor, Ph.D. “It is an excellent teaching text because Mystal lays things out very clearly and those who attend the lecture ought to really understand the Supreme Court, how it works, and what the Roberts court is doing.”

“We hope that the lecture will inform students and the community about Supreme Court jurisprudence over the years and help them to see how the court's recent work both builds on the past and also is a radical break from it,” added Taylor, a Classics professor and chair of Loyola University Maryland’s Classics department.

A book signing with Mystal’s book available for purchase will immediately follow the talk. Admission is free, but advance registration is required. To reserve seating, visit www.loyola.edu/humanities-in-action, email centerforthehumanities@loyola.edu or call 410.617.2617.

About the Series & the Center
Humanities in Action – a new lecture series sponsored by Loyola University Maryland's Center for the Humanities – invites scholars, artists and public figures to campus to talk about timely issues of broad significance that affect what it means to be human in our society and the world.

The Center for the Humanities was established in 1983 through the generosity of many donors and of the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide strength and vision to the humanities at Loyola University Maryland. It offers lectures, lectures series and fine arts performances; other forms of research support for both faculty and students, and various forms of support for teaching in the humanities. For more information, visit www.loyola.edu/department/center-humanities.