Professor John Q. Barrett has published an essay, Charles Reich, New Dealer, as part of a special Touro Law Review issue that grew out of Touro Law School’s January 2020 conference commemorating the life and legacy of Charles A. Reich (1928-2019), former Yale law professor, constitutional law scholar, and best-selling author.

Professor Barrett’s essay, paying tribute to Reich’s writings and their friendship, juxtaposes how Reich revered Franklin D. Roosevelt and how Reich sometimes wrote negatively about the New Deal. The explanation, Barrett posits, is that Reich’s criticisms were aimed much more at 1950s government, conformity, and stultification than they were at the 1930s and 1940s years of Roosevelt’s presidency.

The Touro Law Review issue on Charles Reich includes, in addition to Professor Barrett’s essay: an introduction by Rodger Citron, conference organizer and Reich biographer; Charles Reich’s final (or at least his latest) article, Keeping Up: Walking With Justice Douglas; essays and articles by Hon. Guido Calabresi, Harold Hongju Koh, Felicia Kornbluh and Karen M. Tani, Sarah A. Seo, and Raymond H. Brescia; and concluding thoughts by Professor Citron.

For an abstract of Professor Barrett’s essay and to download it, click here.