Elie Mystal

Elie Ying Mystal (born May 10, 1978) is an American political commentator, writer and former litigator. He is the justice correspondent at The Nation, where he writes about the courts and the criminal justice system.

Early life and education Elie Mystal's father, also named Elie Mystal, was Haitian-American, the first black person elected to the Suffolk County Legislature, and an influential political operative whose career ended with a fine for violating election district residency laws.

Mystal graduated with a degree in Government from Harvard University in 2000, and earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2003. He worked as an associate at Debevoise and Plimpton from 2003 to 2005.

Career Mystal is the author of Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution, which is intended to be an "easily digestible argument about what rights we have, what rights Republicans are trying to take away, and how to stop them." The book, which was published by The New Press in March 2022, made The New York Times Best Seller list that same month.

As of 2022, Mystal was a board member of Demand Justice, a liberal judicial advocacy group.

Since 2020, Mystal has been an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center.

Publications Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution. New York: The New Press. 2022. . . Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America. New York: The New Press. 2025. .