Justice Deferred

Race and the Supreme Court

Orville Vernon Burton, Armand Derfner

• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780674295445, 9780674975644
• eBook ISBN: 9780674258846
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Law

"[A] learned and thoughtful portrayal of the history of race relations in America…authoritative and highly readable…[An] impressive work."
—Randall Kennedy, The Nation

"This comprehensive history…reminds us that the fight for justice requires our constant vigilance."
—Ibram X. Kendi

"Remarkable for the breadth and depth of its historical and legal analysis…makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the US Supreme Court's role in America's difficult racial history."
—Tomiko Brown-Nagin, author of Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality

From the Cherokee Trail of Tears to Brown v. Board of Education to the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, Orville Vernon Burton and Armand Derfner shine a powerful light on the Supreme Court's race record—uplifting, distressing, and even disgraceful. Justice Deferred is the first book that comprehensively charts the Supreme Court's race jurisprudence, detailing the development of legal and constitutional doctrine, the justices' reasoning, and the impact of individual rulings.

In addressing such issues as the changing interpretations of the Reconstruction amendments, Japanese internment in World War II, the exclusion of Mexican Americans from juries, and affirmative action, the authors bring doctrine to life by introducing the people and events at the heart of the story of race in the United States. Much of the fragility of civil rights in America is due to the Supreme Court, but as this sweeping history reminds us, the justices still have the power to make good on the country's promise of equal rights for all.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Note to the Reader
• Introduction
• 1. The Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the Road to Civil War
• 2. A New Birth of Freedom
• 3. The Supreme Court in Reconstruction
• 4. The Supreme Court and the Jim Crow Counterrevolution
• 5. Beginning the Long, Slow Turnaround
• 6. Breaking New Ground
• 7. The End of Separate but Equal
• 8. Opposing Forces: Massive Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement
• 9. A New Birth of Freedom, Again
• 10. Change in the Court
• 11. The War of Words: “Purpose” and “Effect”
• 12. Affirmative Action: Color Blind or Color Conscious
• 13. The Color of Criminal Justice
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• Illustration Credits
• Index of Cases
• General Index