In Enforcing Equality, Rebecca E. Zietlow assesses Congress's historical role in interpreting the Constitution and protecting the individual rights of citizens, provocatively challenging conventional wisdom that courts, not legislatures, are best suited for this role.

Specifically focusing on what she calls -rights of belonging---a set of positive entitlements that are necessary to ensure inclusion, participation, and equal membership in diverse communities--Zietlow examines three historical eras: Reconstruction, the New Deal era, and Civil Rights era of the 1960s....