Description
Book SynopsisThis book philosophically explores how changing conceptions of race and equality have affected Supreme Court interpretations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution over the years. In the years since the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, in its decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause, the Supreme Court has switched from using a sociocultural concept of race to using a biological concept of race, and during the same time period has switched from using a social to a legal concept of equality. One result of these trends is the recent emergence of something called ''reverse discrimination.'' Another result is that the Equal Protection Clause no longer specially protects racialized persons from racial discrimination, as it was originally intended to do. Using the tools of legal hermeneutics, critical philosophy of race, and critical race theory, key cases of racial discrimination in equal protection law are examined through a historica
Trade ReviewRacial injustice represents more than lapses in legal compliance but rather a system of marginalization rooted in our history and social habits. In For Equals Only: Race, Equality, and the Equal Protection Clause, Tina Botts sharply analyzes the equal protection clause in the fourteenth amendment in light of our history of racial marginalization to argue that our reliance on it needs to shift towards responding to inequalities as social and historical rather than as simply legal. In doing so, Botts urges us to think about the equal protection clause as intended for addressing disparities in social status and standing rather than as a tool for individual cases of discrimination. For Equals Only arrives at a moment of reinvigorated debates around the role of the state in perpetuating racial injustice and helps clearly articulate what we most need to know about our collective duties to black citizens. -- Christopher Lebron, Johns Hopkins University
Liberalism as a political philosophy rests foundationally on the idea of the moral, legal, and political equality of “persons.” But what happens when race and white supremacy make some “persons” in effect more equal than others? In this fascinating and illuminating investigation, Tina Botts demonstrates how the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause has come to be interpreted in such a way as to enshrine rather than challenge the ongoing social inequality of those lesser “persons” racialized as black in the United States. -- Charles W. Mills, CUNY Graduate Center
Tina Botts methodically shows how the concepts of biological race and legal equality in use by the US Supreme Court leave out present and past experiences of discrimination against nonwhite people in society. This call for a more comprehensive interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment should spur change and spark reflection among legal scholars, political philosophers, and researchers of race in the United States. -- Naomi Zack, Professor of Philosophy, University of Oregon
Table of ContentsIntroduction 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
