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Vince Mereday
The highest-ranking court in the United States, which has broad jurisdiction over any case involving the federal government, and is able to invalidate laws it finds to be unconstitutional. While Rothstein calls on the Supreme Court to take concrete action against de jure residential segregation, the Supreme Court has repeatedly and wrongly declared this segregation de facto (and therefore outside the scope of government responsibility). Accordingly, one of Rothstein’s aims in The Color of Law is to provide the concrete historical evidence that institutions like the Supreme Court need in order to recognize that American residential segregation is de jure and remediable by the government. Rothstein notes that the Court has taken a variety of positions on segregation and housing discrimination throughout its history: it has usually defended segregationists and their practices, but it has also stopped them in instances like the 1917 case Buchanan v. Warley, which outlawed explicit block-by-block segregation in city zoning policies, and the 1948 case Shelley v. Kraemer, which declared restrictive covenants against black homeowners illegal. However, agencies like the Federal Housing Administration have also deliberately circumvented the Court’s rulings and continued to segregate American cities despite knowing this to be unconstitutional. Accordingly, Rothstein has mixed feelings about the Supreme Court’s role: its intervention is necessary for the United States to fulfill its constitutional commitment to racial equality, and yet is often ineffectual.
The Supreme Court Quotes in The Color of Law
The The Color of Law quotes below are all either spoken by The Supreme Court or refer to The Supreme Court. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Preface
Quotes
Half a century ago, the truth of de jure segregation was well known, but since then we have suppressed our historical memory and soothed ourselves into believing that it all happened by accident or by misguided private prejudice. Popularized by Supreme Court majorities from the 1970s to the present, the de facto segregation myth has now been adopted by conventional opinion, liberal and conservative alike.
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Chapter 3
Quotes
In the wake of the 1917 Buchanan decision, the enthusiasm of federal officials for economic zoning that could also accomplish racial segregation grew rapidly.
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Chapter 5
Quotes
The Supreme Court decision in Shelley v. Kraemer, banning court enforcement of restrictive covenants, had been unanimous, 6-0. Three of the nine justices excused themselves from participating because their objectivity might have been challenged—there were racial restrictions covering the homes in which they lived.
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The Supreme Court Quotes in The Color of Law
The The Color of Law quotes below are all either spoken by The Supreme Court or refer to The Supreme Court. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Preface
Quotes
Half a century ago, the truth of de jure segregation was well known, but since then we have suppressed our historical memory and soothed ourselves into believing that it all happened by accident or by misguided private prejudice. Popularized by Supreme Court majorities from the 1970s to the present, the de facto segregation myth has now been adopted by conventional opinion, liberal and conservative alike.
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Chapter 3
Quotes
In the wake of the 1917 Buchanan decision, the enthusiasm of federal officials for economic zoning that could also accomplish racial segregation grew rapidly.
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Chapter 5
Quotes
The Supreme Court decision in Shelley v. Kraemer, banning court enforcement of restrictive covenants, had been unanimous, 6-0. Three of the nine justices excused themselves from participating because their objectivity might have been challenged—there were racial restrictions covering the homes in which they lived.
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