March 22, 2021
Clemson history professor Burton (The Age of Lincoln) and civil rights attorney Derfner deliver a comprehensive survey of the Supreme Court’s role in the battle for racial equality. Analyzing more than 200 rulings, the authors make clear that the court has more often been an impediment to progress than an ally of it. They put famous cases, including Dred Scott and Brown v. Board of Education, in the context of judicial precedents and contemporaneous politics, and spotlight the importance of more obscure rulings, including the 5-4 decision in Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio (1989), which shifted to the plaintiff the burden of proving that “racially different results” produced by a company’s hiring practices didn’t have a legitimate business justification. Spanning American history from the colonial era to the present day, Burton and Derfner offer copious evidence that justices have been influenced by the politics of their respective eras, and, in some cases—including an 1876 decision striking down key parts of a law protecting voting rights for African Americans—have ignored a statute’s wording in order to rollback minority rights. This meticulous deep dive into the court’s mixed record on civil rights is a must-read for legal scholars.