Journalism for the Common Good

In this episode of The Brian Lehrer Show, host Brian Lehrer welcomes University of Michigan law professor Michelle Adams, winner of the 2026 Hillman Prize for Journalism in the Service of the Common Good, and New York Times columnist Jamel Bowie, one of the prize’s judges. Adams discusses her book, *The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North*, which chronicles a pivotal 1970s legal case in Detroit that challenged Northern Jim Crow through school desegregation litigation. The case, which culminated in the 1974 *Milliken v. Bradley* decision, exposed systemic racial segregation in the North—driven by housing and school policies—yet the Supreme Court’s ruling effectively blocked metropolitan-wide desegregation, undermining the case’s potential and foreshadowing later resistance to affirmative action. Jamel Bowie explores the broader constitutional implications, arguing that while the political right has a clear ‘unitary executive’ theory of power, the left lacks a coherent vision for constitutional order. He contrasts this with Trump’s historical fixation on 1896—marking the rise of American imperialism under McKinley—and reflects on how modern executive overreach echoes that era. The conversation also touches on the importance of democratic engagement, judicial reform through electoral politics, and the role of journalism in advancing the common good.