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Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America
The New York Times best-selling author brings his trademark legal acumen and passionate snark to offer a brilliant takedown of ten incredibly bad pieces of legislation that are causing way too much misery to millions.
“If it were up to me, I’d treat every law passed before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as presumptively unconstitutional. The government of this country was illegitimate when it ruled over people who had no ability to choose the rules.�
—from the introduction to Bad Law
In Bad Law, the New York Times best-selling author of Allow Me to A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution brings his trademark legal acumen and passionate snark to a brilliant takedown of ten of what he considers the most egregiously awful laws on the books today. These are pieces of legislation that are making life worse rather than better for Americans, and that, he argues with trenchant wit and biting humor, should be repealed completely.
On topics ranging from abortion and immigration to voting rights and religious freedom, we have chosen rules to live by that do not reflect the will of most of the people. With respect to our decision to make a law that effectively grants immunity to gun manufacturers, for example, Mystal writes, “We live in the most violent, wealthy country on earth not in spite of the law; we live in a first-person-shooter video game because of the law.�
But, as the man Samantha Bee calls “irrepressible and righteously indignant� and Matt Levine of Bloomberg Opinion calls “the funniest lawyer in America,� points out, these laws do not come to us from on high; we write them, and we can and should unwrite them. In a marvelous and original takedown spanning all the hot-button topics in the country today, one of our most brilliant legal thinkers points the way to a saner tomorrow.
“If it were up to me, I’d treat every law passed before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as presumptively unconstitutional. The government of this country was illegitimate when it ruled over people who had no ability to choose the rules.�
—from the introduction to Bad Law
In Bad Law, the New York Times best-selling author of Allow Me to A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution brings his trademark legal acumen and passionate snark to a brilliant takedown of ten of what he considers the most egregiously awful laws on the books today. These are pieces of legislation that are making life worse rather than better for Americans, and that, he argues with trenchant wit and biting humor, should be repealed completely.
On topics ranging from abortion and immigration to voting rights and religious freedom, we have chosen rules to live by that do not reflect the will of most of the people. With respect to our decision to make a law that effectively grants immunity to gun manufacturers, for example, Mystal writes, “We live in the most violent, wealthy country on earth not in spite of the law; we live in a first-person-shooter video game because of the law.�
But, as the man Samantha Bee calls “irrepressible and righteously indignant� and Matt Levine of Bloomberg Opinion calls “the funniest lawyer in America,� points out, these laws do not come to us from on high; we write them, and we can and should unwrite them. In a marvelous and original takedown spanning all the hot-button topics in the country today, one of our most brilliant legal thinkers points the way to a saner tomorrow.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published March 25, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
February 10, 2025
I just got an ARC of this and I am beside myself. Allow Me to Retort was one of the best books I've ever read about the US Constitution.
ETA, now that I've finished the book --
The Thing About Elie Mystal is that he has the biggest pottymouth and the wickedest sense of humor of any legal commentator anywhere in the multiverse. He's also brilliant. Like "Allow Me to Retort," "Bad Law" skewers a legal system that, instead of working to protect us, perpetuates white supremacism, male supremacism, heteronormativity, transphobia, etc. etc. (By the way, "us" in that sentence naturally includes quite a lot of people who don't seem to know it.)
I could have predicted some of Mystal's targets: "Don't Say Gay" laws; abortion bans; "stand your ground" laws and the Second Amendment. Others hadn't occurred to me but seemed obvious once he pointed them out -- voter registration, for instance. Mystal describes how registration requirements effectively disenfranchise many people and says, flatly, "If you live somewhere, you should have a say in how you are governed, regardless of where you were born or how much money you have." (He doesn't say "and regardless of citizenship," but I'm pretty sure he would if you asked him.)
Felony murder! I've been to law school and I like to conceive of myself as someone sensitive to the oppressive qualities of the US criminal "justice" system, but had I ever thought through the implications of felony murder statutes, especially as combined with three-strikes sentencing requirements? Quick explanation: basically, if you're involved in a felony and someone gets killed in the course of the felony, you're guilty of murder even if you didn't have a weapon and had nothing to do with the actual killing.
What do you know, it turns out that felony murder statutes penalize victims of domestic violence (because they may be coerced into participation, for example driving a getaway car) and also help underpin the cops' shoot-'em-up license (say you're fleeing the cops and they get a-shooting and kill a bystander, you've committed felony murder; you can see how this doesn't encourage cops to keep their weapons holstered).
I highlighted dozens and dozens of passages in "Bad Law" -- pithy ones, funny ones, sharp-tongued ones, and so many insults.
Mystal suggests ways in which terrible laws can be changed; whether any of those means will work under present circumstances seems like a long shot. Something to strive for, or at least a pleasant fantasy. It's hard to call this lack a failure or a defect in the book; for one thing, he wrote it before the 2024 election, thus at a time when we could still hope to improve our country rather than just desperately try to salvage what we can of it.
May the Flying Spaghetti Monster bless and keep this man. Please read his book.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the New Press for the ARC.
ETA, now that I've finished the book --
The Thing About Elie Mystal is that he has the biggest pottymouth and the wickedest sense of humor of any legal commentator anywhere in the multiverse. He's also brilliant. Like "Allow Me to Retort," "Bad Law" skewers a legal system that, instead of working to protect us, perpetuates white supremacism, male supremacism, heteronormativity, transphobia, etc. etc. (By the way, "us" in that sentence naturally includes quite a lot of people who don't seem to know it.)
I could have predicted some of Mystal's targets: "Don't Say Gay" laws; abortion bans; "stand your ground" laws and the Second Amendment. Others hadn't occurred to me but seemed obvious once he pointed them out -- voter registration, for instance. Mystal describes how registration requirements effectively disenfranchise many people and says, flatly, "If you live somewhere, you should have a say in how you are governed, regardless of where you were born or how much money you have." (He doesn't say "and regardless of citizenship," but I'm pretty sure he would if you asked him.)
The government can determine who is eligible to vote based on lists it already has, including the census. All voters who are eligible that the government knows about are registered. All those who are eligible that the government doesn’t know about are presumptively registered, unless information is produced that they are not eligible. The end. That’s how it’s done in most of the rest of the world.That last is kind of the kicker for me -- I wonder how many people in one country are aware of how voting is handled in other countries. (I do assume that "voting" in places like Russia, China, and Hungary is not meaningful as Mystal and I would like voting to be.)
Felony murder! I've been to law school and I like to conceive of myself as someone sensitive to the oppressive qualities of the US criminal "justice" system, but had I ever thought through the implications of felony murder statutes, especially as combined with three-strikes sentencing requirements? Quick explanation: basically, if you're involved in a felony and someone gets killed in the course of the felony, you're guilty of murder even if you didn't have a weapon and had nothing to do with the actual killing.
What do you know, it turns out that felony murder statutes penalize victims of domestic violence (because they may be coerced into participation, for example driving a getaway car) and also help underpin the cops' shoot-'em-up license (say you're fleeing the cops and they get a-shooting and kill a bystander, you've committed felony murder; you can see how this doesn't encourage cops to keep their weapons holstered).
I highlighted dozens and dozens of passages in "Bad Law" -- pithy ones, funny ones, sharp-tongued ones, and so many insults.
Jonathan Mitchell, a Republican fetus whisperer
Wherever neoliberals go, the story always stays the same: labor gets hollowed out, monopolies emerge, service gets worse, and consumer protections disappear.
... entire swaths of Americans consider the Constitution to be made up of the Second Amendment plus a whole bunch of “woke,â€� “liberalâ€� sissy-ass Ìýsuggestions.
The most “woke� elementary school in the world (and the school my kids go to would be in the running for such an honorific) is not sensitizing kids to LGBTQ issues by teaching math through the operation of adding partners with a double-ended dildo.
Mystal suggests ways in which terrible laws can be changed; whether any of those means will work under present circumstances seems like a long shot. Something to strive for, or at least a pleasant fantasy. It's hard to call this lack a failure or a defect in the book; for one thing, he wrote it before the 2024 election, thus at a time when we could still hope to improve our country rather than just desperately try to salvage what we can of it.
May the Flying Spaghetti Monster bless and keep this man. Please read his book.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the New Press for the ARC.
December 31, 2024
I was given this as an ARC in order for my feedback from NetGalley. The feedback is my own.
I really enjoyed this book. As an AP Government teacher with an undergraduate degree in Political Science it was right up my alley. It read very quickly with just enough political information to not bore the average reader but enough to allow me to laugh out loud at certain points. I would love to recommend this book to all readers but I fear this book won’t make it into the hands of the people that need it the most. The author does not hold back on his opinions, which I appreciate. He attacks both sides of the aisle in order to make his points about bad laws.
This book will sit with me for a while and I truly hope those in power will take note and begin the process for change. Our country will never advance if we do not allow for change. Our constitution was not meant to be an unchanging document, for it to only change 17 times since its ratification is unheard of for many democratic governments around the globe.
This was the first book I read from this author but I am immediately going to purchase his other book. The honesty that he provides in his work is much needed and I would highly recommend reading.
I really enjoyed this book. As an AP Government teacher with an undergraduate degree in Political Science it was right up my alley. It read very quickly with just enough political information to not bore the average reader but enough to allow me to laugh out loud at certain points. I would love to recommend this book to all readers but I fear this book won’t make it into the hands of the people that need it the most. The author does not hold back on his opinions, which I appreciate. He attacks both sides of the aisle in order to make his points about bad laws.
This book will sit with me for a while and I truly hope those in power will take note and begin the process for change. Our country will never advance if we do not allow for change. Our constitution was not meant to be an unchanging document, for it to only change 17 times since its ratification is unheard of for many democratic governments around the globe.
This was the first book I read from this author but I am immediately going to purchase his other book. The honesty that he provides in his work is much needed and I would highly recommend reading.
February 20, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and The New Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
In Bad Law, Mystal critiques the state of America’s democracy (if you can call it that) and explores the important hot topics of immigration, voting rights, abortion, neoliberalism, the criminal justice system and religious freedom, among others. In doing so, he highlights which laws have enabled the white male ruling class to turn the US government into a tool for subjugation and reflection of archaic Christian ideology.
Being an Australian who is not well versed in US laws did not prevent me from being fully involved in this book. Mystal uses accessible and clear language to explain the laws and concepts and then critiques them with wickedly irreverent humour that had me genuinely laughing out loud at times.
As with any work of critical nonfiction, the book is infused with the author’s biases. However, it was incredibly refreshing that Mystal did not feign neutrality and was upfront about how his experience and identity informed his opinions. This allowed for a transparent and informed reading experience that I wish was more common in this genre.
The only major downfall about this book is that the people who need to read it most are unlikely to ever pick it up.
In Bad Law, Mystal critiques the state of America’s democracy (if you can call it that) and explores the important hot topics of immigration, voting rights, abortion, neoliberalism, the criminal justice system and religious freedom, among others. In doing so, he highlights which laws have enabled the white male ruling class to turn the US government into a tool for subjugation and reflection of archaic Christian ideology.
Being an Australian who is not well versed in US laws did not prevent me from being fully involved in this book. Mystal uses accessible and clear language to explain the laws and concepts and then critiques them with wickedly irreverent humour that had me genuinely laughing out loud at times.
As with any work of critical nonfiction, the book is infused with the author’s biases. However, it was incredibly refreshing that Mystal did not feign neutrality and was upfront about how his experience and identity informed his opinions. This allowed for a transparent and informed reading experience that I wish was more common in this genre.
The only major downfall about this book is that the people who need to read it most are unlikely to ever pick it up.
January 7, 2025
“The people who pass bad laws need us to be uninformed. The ignorance of the electorate is their greatest weapon. Knowledge is their kryptonite.�
Elie Mystal is not trying to convince the other side of anything at all in this book about the most harmful laws in the United States and how we can repeal them. This book isn’t for the people who voted for Trump and his minions, because these very laws were put in place intentionally by them and their sympathizers to do exactly what they set forth to do. The intent of Elie’s book is to call these laws out, to inform those of us who actually want a real representative democracy for the first time since the birth of the nation, and to give us a road map for what needs to be done to accomplish it.
I am one of those people who reads stacks and stacks of political science and history books for fun, but I learned so much from this book that I thought I was going to break my KIndle highlighting as much as I did. The tone is conversational and irreverent, never condescending or unapproachable, and very frequently righteously indignant and raucously profane. If you don’t like F-bombs, this book won’t be for you. That’s too bad, though, because the amount of knowledge contained in these pages should be required for all voters everywhere.
On the eve of the anniversary of January 6th, imagine my surprise when I read the words, “How then does the Right arise in the Majority to govern the Minority against their will?� John Adams believed that if the minorities (back then the poor and the slaves and women) ignored their “obligation to obey,� that the “powerful white men simply won’t submit to the authority of the government if that government is based on the majority rule of all the people in the country or in a state. He’s saying, straight out, that wealthy whites will reject democracy if democracy does not produce the outcomes desired by the rich and powerful.� This passage stopped me in my tracks. As the “broligarchy� is about to take over the country, the prescience of this book stands supreme. It’s important, it’s gutting, and it’s fiercely defiant. I couldn’t put it down and will be ordering his previous book, “Allow Me to Retort,� immediately.
Thank you, Net Galley, for this Advance Reader Copy.
Elie Mystal is not trying to convince the other side of anything at all in this book about the most harmful laws in the United States and how we can repeal them. This book isn’t for the people who voted for Trump and his minions, because these very laws were put in place intentionally by them and their sympathizers to do exactly what they set forth to do. The intent of Elie’s book is to call these laws out, to inform those of us who actually want a real representative democracy for the first time since the birth of the nation, and to give us a road map for what needs to be done to accomplish it.
I am one of those people who reads stacks and stacks of political science and history books for fun, but I learned so much from this book that I thought I was going to break my KIndle highlighting as much as I did. The tone is conversational and irreverent, never condescending or unapproachable, and very frequently righteously indignant and raucously profane. If you don’t like F-bombs, this book won’t be for you. That’s too bad, though, because the amount of knowledge contained in these pages should be required for all voters everywhere.
On the eve of the anniversary of January 6th, imagine my surprise when I read the words, “How then does the Right arise in the Majority to govern the Minority against their will?� John Adams believed that if the minorities (back then the poor and the slaves and women) ignored their “obligation to obey,� that the “powerful white men simply won’t submit to the authority of the government if that government is based on the majority rule of all the people in the country or in a state. He’s saying, straight out, that wealthy whites will reject democracy if democracy does not produce the outcomes desired by the rich and powerful.� This passage stopped me in my tracks. As the “broligarchy� is about to take over the country, the prescience of this book stands supreme. It’s important, it’s gutting, and it’s fiercely defiant. I couldn’t put it down and will be ordering his previous book, “Allow Me to Retort,� immediately.
Thank you, Net Galley, for this Advance Reader Copy.
April 2, 2025
Mystal is funny and fun to read, erudite and thoughtful, and I definitely learned some things - mostly just how bad these laws really are. But by his own assertion, this is not a book designed to change the minds of folks who actually like these laws, and so it ends up feeling like a funny cathartic rant rather than something important. I'd still recommend it, but can't quite muster 4 stars.
February 9, 2025
4.75/5 rounded up - Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. I was intrigued by this book frankly because of the author's twitter account, in which he is always coming in with smart, thoughtful, biting, and hilarious takes on social justice and our political system. I was hoping this book would have all of that clear-cutting logic combined with wit and humor and boy did it deliver. The introduction is one of the best introductions that I've ever read, because it gives us a succinct portrait of who the author is, the exact perspective he is coming from when writing this, and who his audience is:
"If you are new here, hello. My name is Elie Mystal. I'm no longer a lawyer, but I play one on TV. I'm also a columnist and author. I talk and write because I'm not good at marching and fighting. I approach law from the perspective of activism and advocacy, which is an intellectually acceptable way to say I'm biased as fuck."..."Obviously, I think my biases are righteous and other people's biases are misguided, but its important to understand when reading me that I'm not trying to convince other people. You can read many books that try to appeal and persuade people on 'both sides' of an issue, but that is not my mission."
So if you read the introduction and its not for you, I would not read further. In fact if you read the table of contents and feel yourself getting defensive, this book is not for you. Chapter titles include but are not limited to "Why isn't everyone registered to vote?...Why do we incarcerate so many people?...Why do we give White guys a license to kill Black people?...How did they fit the federal budget inside people's wombs?...Why can't we say gay?". However, if these chapters address issues that you think about a lot, that cause you a great deal of pain, that you spend much of your time worrying about and feel helpless to change, then I think you will enjoy this book immensely. Because each chapter outlines a single law - what it actually says, how it came to be, the historical context and motivations for its creation, the consequences resulting from it, and how the singular action of repealing it would cause a great deal of structural change. In a system that feels so impossibly complicated and overbearing, it is refreshing and motivating to understand how pushing for a single action on a single issue in the form of a repeal can cause the change we are hoping for. Not to say that repealing laws is easy, the author explains exactly why and how it is so difficult in each case, but it is a clear, possible path, that cuts through the chaos and helplessness (at least in my mind).
While fully explaining his bias, the author sets up the no-nonsense tone of the book by also not leaving anyone safe. He is on HIS side, which doesn't mean one political party is always good. Everyone can be at fault. There is no objective ultimate truth or goodness, only the rules that imperfect people have set up. Again this is set up immediately in the introduction:
"The law is not a set of objective rules. It's an amalgam of our subjective choices....Our choices have ben shitty. That's because, for the most part, 'we' do not get to participate in the choosing of our laws. Not all of us, not in this country. America is a place where we specifically prohibited Black people and women from participating in the decisions about which laws we'd have for nearly two hundred years."
I also cannot emphasize enough how much I learned from this book about just basic civics and legal terms. Its a little embarrassing how much I didn't know, and how these definitions and details are absolutely crucial to how these laws are set up and carried out. For example, he discusses in the second chapter that most of U.S. Immigration law falls under civil law, that deportation is a civil penalty, and because it is under civil law, violations leading to deportation do not receive the same legal protections we think of being assumed in criminal law such as due process and access to a lawyer. He then goes on to explain that some immigration offenses ARE criminal violations, illegal entry and illegal reentry, and that those are very different things. In chapter 4 he uses airline regulation to discuss the concept of neoliberalism and why it appealed to so many democratic leaning folks at the time but often ended up serving a conservative agenda. Another example is in chapter 6 where he discusses the felony murder law and how the way that it is worded and applied allows for a felony murder charge when there is no murderous intent (instead of manslaughter which is the usual charge when someone dies but there was no intent). This is maybe revealing more about my ignorance than telling you about the book, but hopefully its giving you some sense of the kind of information discussed.
The epilogue again is so well-crafted and mirrors the introduction and the main thesis of the book: "Every law in this book can be repealed by an act of Congress or an act of state legislatures. Every bad law can be replaced by a good one. Nothing is written in stone. Our world is not inevitable."
And then he just hits with an absolute stunner out of nowhere "The United States has the least representative democracy among the wealthy nations of the world. Thats not a vibe, its a fact. Each member of the U.S. House of Representatives (our most local member of the national government) represents on average 760,000 people. The next least representative government after us is Japan, where each proportionally representative member of the Japanese Shugiin (Japan's equivalent of our lower house) is responsible for an average of 270,000 people." And then goes on to explain much more about that.
So yes I found it super eye-opening, engaging, and funny. If you are more versed in legalese this may be basic but I think the tone and quips will still make it entertaining. The only negative thing I have to say is that it could have been a bit longer and more fleshed out. It went really fast through some of the concepts in certain chapters and I'm having a hard time remembering them because I don't think I fully understood in the first place. That's not really the book's fault of course. Anyway, I will be definitely going back to read the author's first book and look forward to any future works!
"If you are new here, hello. My name is Elie Mystal. I'm no longer a lawyer, but I play one on TV. I'm also a columnist and author. I talk and write because I'm not good at marching and fighting. I approach law from the perspective of activism and advocacy, which is an intellectually acceptable way to say I'm biased as fuck."..."Obviously, I think my biases are righteous and other people's biases are misguided, but its important to understand when reading me that I'm not trying to convince other people. You can read many books that try to appeal and persuade people on 'both sides' of an issue, but that is not my mission."
So if you read the introduction and its not for you, I would not read further. In fact if you read the table of contents and feel yourself getting defensive, this book is not for you. Chapter titles include but are not limited to "Why isn't everyone registered to vote?...Why do we incarcerate so many people?...Why do we give White guys a license to kill Black people?...How did they fit the federal budget inside people's wombs?...Why can't we say gay?". However, if these chapters address issues that you think about a lot, that cause you a great deal of pain, that you spend much of your time worrying about and feel helpless to change, then I think you will enjoy this book immensely. Because each chapter outlines a single law - what it actually says, how it came to be, the historical context and motivations for its creation, the consequences resulting from it, and how the singular action of repealing it would cause a great deal of structural change. In a system that feels so impossibly complicated and overbearing, it is refreshing and motivating to understand how pushing for a single action on a single issue in the form of a repeal can cause the change we are hoping for. Not to say that repealing laws is easy, the author explains exactly why and how it is so difficult in each case, but it is a clear, possible path, that cuts through the chaos and helplessness (at least in my mind).
While fully explaining his bias, the author sets up the no-nonsense tone of the book by also not leaving anyone safe. He is on HIS side, which doesn't mean one political party is always good. Everyone can be at fault. There is no objective ultimate truth or goodness, only the rules that imperfect people have set up. Again this is set up immediately in the introduction:
"The law is not a set of objective rules. It's an amalgam of our subjective choices....Our choices have ben shitty. That's because, for the most part, 'we' do not get to participate in the choosing of our laws. Not all of us, not in this country. America is a place where we specifically prohibited Black people and women from participating in the decisions about which laws we'd have for nearly two hundred years."
I also cannot emphasize enough how much I learned from this book about just basic civics and legal terms. Its a little embarrassing how much I didn't know, and how these definitions and details are absolutely crucial to how these laws are set up and carried out. For example, he discusses in the second chapter that most of U.S. Immigration law falls under civil law, that deportation is a civil penalty, and because it is under civil law, violations leading to deportation do not receive the same legal protections we think of being assumed in criminal law such as due process and access to a lawyer. He then goes on to explain that some immigration offenses ARE criminal violations, illegal entry and illegal reentry, and that those are very different things. In chapter 4 he uses airline regulation to discuss the concept of neoliberalism and why it appealed to so many democratic leaning folks at the time but often ended up serving a conservative agenda. Another example is in chapter 6 where he discusses the felony murder law and how the way that it is worded and applied allows for a felony murder charge when there is no murderous intent (instead of manslaughter which is the usual charge when someone dies but there was no intent). This is maybe revealing more about my ignorance than telling you about the book, but hopefully its giving you some sense of the kind of information discussed.
The epilogue again is so well-crafted and mirrors the introduction and the main thesis of the book: "Every law in this book can be repealed by an act of Congress or an act of state legislatures. Every bad law can be replaced by a good one. Nothing is written in stone. Our world is not inevitable."
And then he just hits with an absolute stunner out of nowhere "The United States has the least representative democracy among the wealthy nations of the world. Thats not a vibe, its a fact. Each member of the U.S. House of Representatives (our most local member of the national government) represents on average 760,000 people. The next least representative government after us is Japan, where each proportionally representative member of the Japanese Shugiin (Japan's equivalent of our lower house) is responsible for an average of 270,000 people." And then goes on to explain much more about that.
So yes I found it super eye-opening, engaging, and funny. If you are more versed in legalese this may be basic but I think the tone and quips will still make it entertaining. The only negative thing I have to say is that it could have been a bit longer and more fleshed out. It went really fast through some of the concepts in certain chapters and I'm having a hard time remembering them because I don't think I fully understood in the first place. That's not really the book's fault of course. Anyway, I will be definitely going back to read the author's first book and look forward to any future works!
April 5, 2025
This book showed up on my doorstep this past week. I thought hmmmmm... who could have sent me this book? There was nothing attached saying who it was from. I am 99% sure it was my father-in-law who loves to send me books like this. I am so glad he sent this one to me because this was fantastic. It was riveting. I read it in a day and a half.
It was super informative but was also hilarious. Everyone really should read this! It honestly should be required reading. It sadly won't be for reasons that are clearly outlined in the book. This is a call to action to start questioning some very basic laws of this country and why and how they came into being. It is also a call to start asking the people you vote for to also question these laws and then change them. I learned a lot reading this, and also was very entertained while doing it.
5 stars and highest recommendation.
It was super informative but was also hilarious. Everyone really should read this! It honestly should be required reading. It sadly won't be for reasons that are clearly outlined in the book. This is a call to action to start questioning some very basic laws of this country and why and how they came into being. It is also a call to start asking the people you vote for to also question these laws and then change them. I learned a lot reading this, and also was very entertained while doing it.
5 stars and highest recommendation.
April 6, 2025
I wish I had this book decades ago, and frankly, it is must reading for anyone who really wants to comprehend just how undemocratic our society is, and has been for at least a century, if not more. Mystal pulls no punches, suffers no fools, calls a ... well, maybe I won't use that cliche! Or rather let's revise: he calls a white man a white man, and wow, there are a lot of them, making bad laws, seemingly deliberately.
April 8, 2025
Abolish the Senate.
January 19, 2025
Bad Law is a sharp, insightful, and, at moments, unapologetically candid examination of the U.S. legal system. It exposes its many flaws and biases while offering a critique of the ways it serves the interests of the powerful rather than the general public.
The book tackles issues such as racial injustice, the power dynamics at play in legal decision-making, and the often-unseen ways in which the system perpetuates inequality. The author's style is direct, engaging, and often humorous, making a topic that could be dense and inaccessible to many feel both understandable and urgent.
The central idea is that much of American law, particularly in the realms of constitutional interpretation and court rulings, is fundamentally “bad� in the sense that it consistently reinforces existing power structures. The book challenges the myth of “neutral� law, arguing instead that the law often upholds oppressive systems, from policing practices to corporate power. The legal system is not an impartial arbiter but a mechanism that sustains and legitimizes injustice.
Mystal’s ability to explain complex legal concepts and cases in a manner that is accessible to the general reader is a key strength. He uses real-world examples, historical context, and clear analysis to break down how the law functions in practice and how it can be used (and misused) by those in positions of power.
At its core, Bad Law is not just a critique but a call to action. He urges readers to reconsider the law’s supposed sanctity and to advocate for reform that genuinely upholds justice, equity, and fairness. His writing urges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the American legal system and to demand a system that works for everyone—not just the privileged few.
Overall, the book is compelling and timely as critique of the American legal system that is likely to resonate with those interested in social justice, civil rights, and legal reform.
The book tackles issues such as racial injustice, the power dynamics at play in legal decision-making, and the often-unseen ways in which the system perpetuates inequality. The author's style is direct, engaging, and often humorous, making a topic that could be dense and inaccessible to many feel both understandable and urgent.
The central idea is that much of American law, particularly in the realms of constitutional interpretation and court rulings, is fundamentally “bad� in the sense that it consistently reinforces existing power structures. The book challenges the myth of “neutral� law, arguing instead that the law often upholds oppressive systems, from policing practices to corporate power. The legal system is not an impartial arbiter but a mechanism that sustains and legitimizes injustice.
Mystal’s ability to explain complex legal concepts and cases in a manner that is accessible to the general reader is a key strength. He uses real-world examples, historical context, and clear analysis to break down how the law functions in practice and how it can be used (and misused) by those in positions of power.
At its core, Bad Law is not just a critique but a call to action. He urges readers to reconsider the law’s supposed sanctity and to advocate for reform that genuinely upholds justice, equity, and fairness. His writing urges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the American legal system and to demand a system that works for everyone—not just the privileged few.
Overall, the book is compelling and timely as critique of the American legal system that is likely to resonate with those interested in social justice, civil rights, and legal reform.
February 21, 2025
Bad Law by Elie Mystal is a bold, thought-provoking read that takes a critical look at some of the most influential laws shaping America today. Mystal does an excellent job breaking down complex legal concepts in a way that’s accessible and engaging. His sharp wit and unapologetic tone make for a compelling read that challenges readers to think about the flaws in the legal system. Each chapter tackles a different law, unpacking its impact on society and why it’s doing more harm than good. What I really appreciated was Mystal’s ability to blend humor with serious analysis, making even the most complex topics interesting. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in law, politics, or social justice, as it shines a light on some of the deep-rooted issues that often go unchallenged. Bad Law isn’t just an informative read—it’s a call to action. If you want a book that makes you think and sparks conversation, this one’s for you. 5 stars!
March 31, 2025
Elie Mystal has done it again!
I went into reading his previous book feeling like maybe I was too extreme for suggesting things like "gosh maybe we should pack the Supreme Court" ... but then I read it and he argued, quite successfully I may add, that we should ABOLISH THE SENATE and I was like "whoah not only is my idea of court packing quaint at best; I can be thinking much more expansively.
This book had a similar affect. I started by thinking, "Maybe I'm being unreasonable by suggesting people shouldn't need IDs to vote." But then here comes Elie Mystal suggesting "WE SHOULD GET RID OF ALL VOTER REGISTRATION LAWS" and I'm like "well dang yeah we should!!!"
This book is engaging, compelling, and hysterical. It is FUN to listen to, and SUPER informative. Elie Mystal has the PERFECT way of explaining things, and I am ALL FOR IT.
I went into reading his previous book feeling like maybe I was too extreme for suggesting things like "gosh maybe we should pack the Supreme Court" ... but then I read it and he argued, quite successfully I may add, that we should ABOLISH THE SENATE and I was like "whoah not only is my idea of court packing quaint at best; I can be thinking much more expansively.
This book had a similar affect. I started by thinking, "Maybe I'm being unreasonable by suggesting people shouldn't need IDs to vote." But then here comes Elie Mystal suggesting "WE SHOULD GET RID OF ALL VOTER REGISTRATION LAWS" and I'm like "well dang yeah we should!!!"
This book is engaging, compelling, and hysterical. It is FUN to listen to, and SUPER informative. Elie Mystal has the PERFECT way of explaining things, and I am ALL FOR IT.
March 30, 2025
The Eighteenth book is from one of my favorite political writers, Elie Mystal. It is Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America. I had first came across his writing in interviews and Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, an incredibly astute read of our Constitution with regards to our history. He brings the receipts. In Bad Law he goes through ten bad laws that have hurt our nation. He writes the book not so much to argue his point but to help give those of us tools to explain the issues. Honestly, I wish this had come out in July of last year. This is one book I would highly recommend.
February 5, 2025
This should be required reading for every voter in America, and, more importantly, every politician in America. One by one, Mystal goes through the ten worst popular laws, expxlains what they were supposed to do, what they actually do, why they are so awful, and what to do about them. But it isn't until the epilogue that he reaches what I considered the most important point: that among large representative government, we are the *least* representative, and how and why this almost guarantees bad laws remaining on the books. Highly recommended.
March 19, 2025
Thank you to Net Galley for providing an advance copy of this book. I could read and listen to Ellie Mystal discuss law for hours. As a non-lawyer he makes it all very accessible and I very much enjoy and appreciate his humor, snark and appropriate righteous outrage.
I only wish the people who really needed to listen to him would do so. And I wonder why “qualified immunity� was not discussed. And as he instructed…I’m headed to vote in my local election.
I only wish the people who really needed to listen to him would do so. And I wonder why “qualified immunity� was not discussed. And as he instructed…I’m headed to vote in my local election.
April 11, 2025
“Our world is not inevitable.�
There are honestly so many pithy lines and clever quotes in this book. Mystal’s writing style keeps you engaged through otherwise pretty dense material. He condenses it without losing clarity or quality. This book is a must read for anyone frustrated with our country and wondering “how the hell did we get here?� The answer of course being, we allowed those in power to get us here.
There are honestly so many pithy lines and clever quotes in this book. Mystal’s writing style keeps you engaged through otherwise pretty dense material. He condenses it without losing clarity or quality. This book is a must read for anyone frustrated with our country and wondering “how the hell did we get here?� The answer of course being, we allowed those in power to get us here.
March 28, 2025
I heard an interview with the author. I thought this would be an intellectual argument about bad laws. It was a rant. Maybe because I bought the audio audiobook, which was more like a performance than a read. All this to say, I did not find value in this. I asked for a refund because I didn't finish.
April 5, 2025
I listened to this on audio. Kudos to the author for his “performance� (his word) because he maintains an admirable level of rage, humor and intensity for the entire book. Kudos to the sound engineer for making it so seamless. This book is a specific targeted attack on high impact, bad laws that should be repealed/abolished and wiped from existence. It is both wonky and accessible.
March 5, 2025
Informative and thoroughly researched and funny throughout, as was Mystal’s Allow Me To Retort. From Don’t Say Gay to Felony Murder, Mystal presents ten laws that reinforce the racist/mysogynist/homophobic underpinnings of modern America, and offers suggestions about how each can be removed.
April 6, 2025
Do yourself a favor and get the audiobook. The only thing better than reading Mr. Mystal’s intelligent words is listening to them in his brilliant and irreverent voice. This book is timely and important!
April 10, 2025
Enlightening, with humor and hope, and written for every reader. From the epilogue:
Knowledge is (politicians') kryptonite...The people who understand how the bad laws work will be the people who can put a stop to them.
Knowledge is (politicians') kryptonite...The people who understand how the bad laws work will be the people who can put a stop to them.
March 30, 2025
Funny and informative. A real A+++.
April 6, 2025
This was his best book.
March 30, 2025
Accessible and funny review of some of the dumbest things we’ve turned into law. Meant for a lay audience, it is somehow both horrifying and hopeful. Quick but important read.
March 21, 2025
I saw this on a table in the store and said "oh wow I didn't know he had a new book out" but waited to buy it only to realize it isn't technically out yet! So I ran back to the store and grabbed it. Loved it, really great commentary on the law.
March 27, 2025
You can also see this review, along with others I have written, at
Thank you, The New Press, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Mr. Book just finished Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, by Elie Mystal.
This book will be released on March 25, 2025. It is my second book that I have read by this author. I previously gave Allow Me To Retort an A+ in 2022.
There are so many great points that the author makes and so much material in this book that I’ve decided to go chapter by chapter on his 10 laws (OK, 9 laws plus one constitutional amendment).
Mystal starts with how voter registration laws are a form of voter suppression. He goes into history of voting and explains that John Adams, among others, wanted to restrict voting the “right people� (aka rich white men) and registration is just a modern day way to attempting to limit voting rights. He then tackles immigration in the next chapter on our immigration laws.
After that, we get a discussion of neoliberalism (or, as the author correctly points out, Democrats acting like Republicans) and deregulation—using the airline industry as his example. He then moves on to criminal law. At first, it appears the chapter will be about the 1994 Crime Bill, which while bad, wasn’t the worst federal criminal law on the books. Mystal says “The best way to think about the bill is as the capstone to a decade-long project of criminalizing Blackness and locking up Black youths for the titillation and applause of white voters.� But, instead, the focus is on Reagan’s 1984 crime bill (the Armed Career Criminal Act) and other criminal laws.
We then get a chapter of giving liability immunity to gun manufacturers. Then comes felony murder statutes. For those smart enough not to go to law school, that means charging someone with murder even though they didn’t intend to kill someone while they were committing a different crime. We then move up to the Castle Doctrine, which allows one to kill trespassers even though they presented no threat to them. And when you look at how the law is actually implemented, it means it allows whites to kill blacks who accidentally trespass onto their land without presenting any harm. The same chapter also covers Stand Your Ground laws, which extends that doctrine to anywhere in which a white person feels as if they are threatened by the presence of a black person.
There are also chapters on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal money from being used for abortions. That would be the easiest to repeal, since it is an annual provision in the budget and would just need to have that line deleted.Then there is coverage of “Don’t Say Gay� laws. The book concludes with the RFRA, which “has become the biggest tool in the shed of Christian fundamentalists looking to force their God down other people’s throats. It has perverted the free exercise clause from a shield for the oppressed into a weapon of the oppressors.�
There are so many great arguments in this book. I give it a well-deserved A+ and induct it into the Hall of Fame.
I hope that it will also come out in audiobook version, so I can also listen to it.
Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A+ equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at NetGalley, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and Mr. Book’s Book Reviews
Mr. Book finished reading this on December 10, 2024.
Thank you, The New Press, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Mr. Book just finished Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, by Elie Mystal.
This book will be released on March 25, 2025. It is my second book that I have read by this author. I previously gave Allow Me To Retort an A+ in 2022.
There are so many great points that the author makes and so much material in this book that I’ve decided to go chapter by chapter on his 10 laws (OK, 9 laws plus one constitutional amendment).
Mystal starts with how voter registration laws are a form of voter suppression. He goes into history of voting and explains that John Adams, among others, wanted to restrict voting the “right people� (aka rich white men) and registration is just a modern day way to attempting to limit voting rights. He then tackles immigration in the next chapter on our immigration laws.
After that, we get a discussion of neoliberalism (or, as the author correctly points out, Democrats acting like Republicans) and deregulation—using the airline industry as his example. He then moves on to criminal law. At first, it appears the chapter will be about the 1994 Crime Bill, which while bad, wasn’t the worst federal criminal law on the books. Mystal says “The best way to think about the bill is as the capstone to a decade-long project of criminalizing Blackness and locking up Black youths for the titillation and applause of white voters.� But, instead, the focus is on Reagan’s 1984 crime bill (the Armed Career Criminal Act) and other criminal laws.
We then get a chapter of giving liability immunity to gun manufacturers. Then comes felony murder statutes. For those smart enough not to go to law school, that means charging someone with murder even though they didn’t intend to kill someone while they were committing a different crime. We then move up to the Castle Doctrine, which allows one to kill trespassers even though they presented no threat to them. And when you look at how the law is actually implemented, it means it allows whites to kill blacks who accidentally trespass onto their land without presenting any harm. The same chapter also covers Stand Your Ground laws, which extends that doctrine to anywhere in which a white person feels as if they are threatened by the presence of a black person.
There are also chapters on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal money from being used for abortions. That would be the easiest to repeal, since it is an annual provision in the budget and would just need to have that line deleted.Then there is coverage of “Don’t Say Gay� laws. The book concludes with the RFRA, which “has become the biggest tool in the shed of Christian fundamentalists looking to force their God down other people’s throats. It has perverted the free exercise clause from a shield for the oppressed into a weapon of the oppressors.�
There are so many great arguments in this book. I give it a well-deserved A+ and induct it into the Hall of Fame.
I hope that it will also come out in audiobook version, so I can also listen to it.
Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A+ equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
This review has been posted at NetGalley, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and Mr. Book’s Book Reviews
Mr. Book finished reading this on December 10, 2024.
March 16, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and The New Press for an eARC copy of Bad Law by Elie Mystal.
If you have yet to read anything by Elie Mystal, I highly recommend that you do. After reading his first book, Allow Me to Retort, I fell in love with the way he writes and presents topics to make them personable and easy to understand. It also helps that Elie Mystal is incredibly funny with he includes quips. While Allow Me to Retort was based on the Constitution, Bad Law reviews ten laws that are awful. Each topic is well researched and there are certainly some you may have never even heard or would have known about. These are laws that are making Americans lives a lot harder and should be reviewed to make sure the people are better represented or repealed completely. Elie Mystal, is one of the best out there and I will continue to argue that his writings are what you know you've been looking for.
If you have yet to read anything by Elie Mystal, I highly recommend that you do. After reading his first book, Allow Me to Retort, I fell in love with the way he writes and presents topics to make them personable and easy to understand. It also helps that Elie Mystal is incredibly funny with he includes quips. While Allow Me to Retort was based on the Constitution, Bad Law reviews ten laws that are awful. Each topic is well researched and there are certainly some you may have never even heard or would have known about. These are laws that are making Americans lives a lot harder and should be reviewed to make sure the people are better represented or repealed completely. Elie Mystal, is one of the best out there and I will continue to argue that his writings are what you know you've been looking for.
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