Pimentel on Blues and the Rule of Law @LoynoLawReview @uidaholaw

David Pimentel, University of Idaho, has published Blues and the Rule of Law at 67 Loyola Law Review 191 (2021). Here is the abstract.

Blues music emerged from African American communities during the Jim Crow era, inspired at least in part by society’s failure to afford them access to justice or the rule of law. The First Amendment, however, provided sufficient protection to speech to allow the art form of the Blues–lamenting the general disenfranchisement of Blacks in America–to develop, and ultimately to reach white audiences. At the same time, because reform came through extra-legal means (the speech and music of protest), the Blues also glorified the character of the outlaw, who flouts corrupt and unresponsive legal authority. In the end, the Blues, by lamenting the failure of legal institutions and lionizing the outlaw who defies them, raised awareness and played a role in bringing U.S. society closer to the rule of law, helping to resolve the rule of law failures that inspired its emergence.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.