William E. Forbath
- Lloyd M. Bentsen Chair in Law
- Professor
Willy Forbath holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Chair and is a professor of history at UT. Forbath is an accomplished author, with his most recent work being ""The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy"" (with Joseph Fishkin). He has been widely published on legal and constitutional history, as well as on theory and comparative constitutional law.
Featured Work
Socialism Past and Future (Part I of II)
Willy Forbath holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Chair and is Associate Dean of Research at UT Austin School of Law; he is also a Professor of History at UT. He is the author of Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement, the forthcoming The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy (February, 2022)(with Joseph Fishkin), and dozens of articles, book chapters, and essays on legal and constitutional history and theory and comparative constitutional law. He is completing a history of Jews, law and identity politics in the twentieth century and starting a history of socialist lawyering and legal imagination. He occasionally writes on legal and constitutional issues for the New York Times, the Nation and other outlets, and is on the boards of several Texas organizations devoted to social movements and advocacy for affordable housing and workers’ rights. In addition to UT Austin, he has taught at UCLA, Sciences Po, Tel Aviv, Columbia, and Harvard.
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year-2014
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Article
The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution
Joseph R. Fishkin, The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution, 94 Boston University Law Review 669 (2014) (with William E. Forbath). View article -
Other Activity
Seminar Leader
William E. Forbath. “Seminar Leader” (May 18-19, 2014). -
Article
The Great Society and the Constitution of Opportunity
Joseph R. Fishkin, The Great Society and the Constitution of Opportunity, 62 Drake Law Review 1017 (2014) (with William E. Forbath).
year-2012
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Article
Workingman's Constitution
William E. Forbath, Workingman's Constitution, NEW YORK TIMES, July 6, 2012, at 23. http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/workingmans-constitution/
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Article
Workers’ Rights and the Distributive Constitution
William E. Forbath, Workers’ Rights and the Distributive Constitution, DISSENT, Spring 2012 at 58. <https://law.utexas.edu/faculty/wforbath/papers/forbath_workers_rights_and_the_distributive_constitution.pdf>
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Article
The Distributive Constitution and Workers’ Rights
William E. Forbath, The Distributive Constitution and Workers’ Rights [Symposium: Reflections on Progressive Constitutionalism: Theory, Practice, and Critique, 72 Ohio State Law Journal 1115 (2011).
year-2011
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Book Review
Radicalism and the Modern State: A Critique of Republican Nostalgia
William E. Forbath, Radicalism and the Modern State: A Critique of Republican Nostalgia, 21 Cornell Journal of Law & Public Policy 121 (2011) (reviewing The Two Faces of American Freedom, by Aziz Rana). -
Article
The Distributive Constitution
William E. Forbath, The Distributive Constitution, 22 Democracy (2011). <http://www.democracyjournal.org/22/the-distributive-constitution.php> -
Article
Social and Economic Rights in Latin America: Constitutional Courts and the Prospects for Pro-Poor Interventions
William E. Forbath, Social and Economic Rights in Latin America: Constitutional Courts and the Prospects for Pro-Poor Interventions [Symposium: Latin American Constitutionalism], 89 Texas Law Review 1943 (2011) (with Daniel M. Brinks). -
Book Chapter
Cultural Transformation, Deep Institutional Reform, and ESR Practice: South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign
William E. Forbath, Cultural Transformation, Deep Institutional Reform, and ESR Practice: South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign, in Stones of Hope: How African Activists Reclaim Human Rights to Challenge Global Poverty 51 (Lucie White & Jeremy Perelman editors; Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011) (with assistance from Zackie Achmat, Geoff Budlender, & Mark Heywood). <http://tallons.law.utexas.edu/record=b1723494~S0>
year-2010
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Article
The Framers and Us: How Not to Use History to Argue about the Constitution and the Supreme Court
William E. Forbath, The Framers and Us: How Not to Use History to Argue about the Constitution and the Supreme Court, Politico, April 17, 2010.
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Book Chapter
Courting the State: An Essay for Morton Horwitz
William E. Forbath, Courting the State: An Essay for Morton Horwitz, in 2 Transformations in American Legal History 70 (Daniel W. Hamilton & Alfred L. Brophy, editors; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010). -
Article
The Will of the People? Pollsters, Elites, and Other Difficulties
William E. Forbath, The Will of the People? Pollsters, Elites, and Other Difficulties, [Symposium: Judicial Review: Historical Debates, Modern Perspectives, and Comparative Approaches], 78 George Washington Law Review 1191 (2010).
year-2009
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Book Chapter
Social and Economic Rights in the American Grain: Reclaiming Constitutional Political Economy
William E. Forbath, Social and Economic Rights in the American Grain: Reclaiming Constitutional Political Economy, in The Constitution in 2020 55 (Jack M. Balkin & Reva B. Siefel eds.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
year-2008
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Article
The Politics of Race, Rights, and Needs--and the Perils of a Democratic Victory in Post-Welfare America: Some Reflections on the Work of Felicia Kornbluh
William E. Forbath, The Politics of Race, Rights, and Needs--and the Perils of a Democratic Victory in Post-Welfare America: Some Reflections on the Work of Felicia Kornbluh, 20 Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 195 (2008). -
Book Chapter
Politics, State-Building, and the Courts, 1870-1920
William E. Forbath, Politics, State-Building, and the Courts, 1870-1920, in The Cambridge History of Law in America 643 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
year-2006
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Article
The Long Life of Liberal America: Law and State-Building in England and the U.S.
William E. Forbath, The Long Life of Liberal America: Law and State-Building in England and the U.S., 24 Law & History Review 179 (2006).
year-2005
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Book Chapter
Not So Simple Justice: Theories of Social Rights and the American Constitution
William E. Forbath, Not So Simple Justice: Theories of Social Rights and the American Constitution, in Theories of Social and Economic Justice 72 (Andre Van der Walt ed.; Stellenbosch, South Africa: African Sun Media, 2005). -
Article
Social Rights, Courts and Constitutional Democracy: Welfare Rights and Poverty in the U.S.
William E. Forbath, Social Rights, Courts and Constitutional Democracy: Welfare Rights and Poverty in the U.S., 12 Democratization 5 (2005). -
Book Chapter
Labor
William E. Forbath, Labor, in The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (Kermit L. Hall ed.; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) (with Craig Becker).