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This book philosophically explores changing conceptions of race and equality in Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause since the enactment of the 14th Amendment. It traces these changing conceptions alongside the gradual elimination of the social equality of racialized persons from the Supreme Court's list of priorities.
List of contents
Introduction
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1: Scholarly Backdrop
Legal Hermeneutics
Critical Philosophy of Race
Critical Race Theory
Origins: The Work of Derrick Bell
Critical Race Theory and Equality
Chapter 2: Equal Protection and Racialized Persons
The Rise of Separate But Equal Doctrine
What is Equal Protection?
Racial Discrimination Per Se Begins: Japanese Americans after WWII
Social Segregation
Separate as Inferior
Separate But Equal Overturned
Racial Classifications and Marriage
Discriminatory Intent vs. Discriminatory Impact
Bakke: Racial Discrimination Per Se is Formalized
Post-Bakke Fall-Out
Concluding Reflections
Chapter 3: The Concept of Race and Equal Protection Law
The Supreme Court's Switch from Sociocultural/Sociohistorical Race to Biological Race
The Academic Switch from Biological Race to Sociocultural/Sociohistorical Race
A Change in Understanding of the Problem of Racial Discrimination
Concluding Reflections
Chapter 4: The Concept of Equality and Equal Protection Law
Early Equal Protection Law: Social Equality
Contemporary Equal Protection Law: Legal Equality
Legal Equality is Out of Step with the Purpose of the Clause
Historical Context
Legislative History
Legal Equality is Out of Step with the Contemporary Sociocultural Context
Legal Equality Facilitates and Perpetuates the Problem of Racial Inequality
Concluding Reflections
Chapter 5: The Special Case of Multiracial Racialized Persons
Historical Engagement Between Multiracial Racialized Persons and the Law
Antimiscegenation Laws
Jim Crow Laws and Segregation
The "One Drop" Rule
The Failure of Antidiscrimination Laws to Protect Multiracial Racialized Persons
Biological Races
Racial Discrimination Perpetuates Historically Situated Oppression
Toward a Distinctive Multiracial Group Identity
An Additional Modification to Antidiscrimination Law
Concluding Reflections
Chapter 6: Thoughts Moving Forward
About the author
Tina Fernandes Botts is assistant professor of philosophy at California State University, Fresno.
Summary
This book philosophically explores changing conceptions of race and equality in Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause since the enactment of the 14th Amendment. It traces these changing conceptions alongside the gradual elimination of the social equality of racialized persons from the Supreme Court’s list of priorities.
