Epilogue: Law and Inequality in A Changing America

The United States is well into the third decade of the twenty-first century. Since the first settlers came to these shores some 400 years ago, America has been a land filled with inequality based on race and ethnicity, social class, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, nationality, and religion. Despite improvement over the decades, Americans remain more or less likely to achieve the American dream and to lead happy, healthy lives because of where they rank on these factors. Focusing on the United States past and present, this chapter examines inequality within the legal system because of these factors and also examines how law today contributes to inequalities related to these factors.