[3] Mystal is the son of Elie Mystal Sr. His father was the first African American elected to the Suffolk County Legislature and an influential political operative whose career ended with a fine for violating election district residency laws.

[1] A description at the Above the Law website says that he "quit the legal profession to pursue a career as an online provocateur".

"[6] Mystal's book, which was published by The New Press in March 2022, made The New York Times Best Seller list that same month.

[11][12][13][14][better source needed] In March 2022, he said the United States Constitution is "actually trash", pointing to the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Three-fifths Compromise.

[3] In that interview, he said about the Constitutional Convention, "We act like this thing was kind of etched in stone by the finger of God, when actually it was hotly contested and debated, scrawled out over a couple of weeks in the summer in Philadelphia in 1787, with a bunch of rich, white politicians making deals with each other.