Precarious Line

Devon Carbado is the Honorable Harry Pregerson Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. The author of numerous articles and edited volumes, he is also the co-author of Acting White? Rethinking Race in “Post-Racial” America. He lives in Los Angeles.

Praise for Unreasonable:“Enriched by Carbado’s accessible analysis of court rulings and judicious selection of case studies, this is a powerful indictment of the criminal justice system.”—Publishers Weekly “Devon Carbado cuts to the heart of the problem of over-policing and police violence in communities of color: the law itself. Unreasonable should permanently shift our discussion from bad apples to bad jurisprudence—and sets the stage for the most important new front in the battle for Black lives.”—Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-founder and executive director, African American Policy Forum “Unreasonable heralds a lifetime achievement of cutting-edge work by Devon Carbado. Come to this brilliant and engaging book for its full blast takedown of the Supreme Court for authorizing police violence and abuse. Stay for Carbado’s eloquent plea to activists—and all concerned citizens—about who to resist, and how. A combustible mix of righteous anger and common sense, Unreasonable is fire.”—Paul Butler, MSNBC legal analyst and author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men “Unreasonable demonstrates how the ability of the police to harass, surveil, search, intimidate, brutalize, and kill us is enshrined in our vaunted Bill of Rights and sanctioned by centuries of racism. Devon Carbado’s utterly brilliant break down of the Fourth Amendment you won’t find on Schoolhouse Rock. But you will find it in the hands of anyone trying to understand why, despite decades of reform, policing does not make us safe. A breathtaking, compelling journey through constitutional law intended to not only enlighten but to literally save lives.”—Robin D.G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, University of California, Los Angeles “Unreasonable is a searing indictment of race and policing in the United States. Professor Devon Carbado explains how the law gives police tremendous, unchecked power. His account of that power is the clearest, most forceful explanation I have seen about what the failure to constrain the police means for people’s lives.”—Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law