Justin L. Brooks is a lawyer and writer based in Cambridge, MA, whose work sits at the intersection of Black political thought, critical theory, and legal history.  His research begins from the premise that racial domination is a structural, rather than episodic, feature of American democracy. Consequently, he argues that democratic ideals must be re-grounded in a moral and political orientation toward struggle and solidarity.

This commitment animates a research agenda that situates Black intellectual history as a primary site for philosophical reflection within criminal legal theory. Simultaneously, Justin theorizes the resistance strategies internal to the racial underclass’s response to state violence and judicial complicity. By interrogating the limits of liberal legal frameworks, his work demonstrates how conventional interpretive approaches remain inadequate for the suspension of racial injustice in the United States.

His current research project provides a systematized account of  the political philosophy of Derrick A. Bell, Jr., a former Harvard Law professor and progenitor of Critical Race Theory.

Justin is the recipient of the 2025 Christian Bay Award from the American Political Science Association. His public-facing work has appeared in The Appeal, The American Prospect, Truthout, and Slate, and he was featured in the A&E documentary Exposing Parchman (2023). 

Justin holds a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law, an A.M. from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Morehouse College.