Post-Racial Constitutionalism and the Roberts Court: Rhetorical Neutrality and the Perpetuation of Inequality - Hardcover

Powell, Cedric Merlin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1108839940 ISBN 13: 9781108839945

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2022

Synopsis

Post-Racial Constitutionalism and the Roberts Court: Rhetorical Neutrality and the Perpetuation of Inequality provides the first comprehensive Critical Race Theory critique of the United States Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts. Since being named to the Court in 2005, Chief Justice Roberts has maintained a position of neutrality in his opinions on race. By dissecting neutrality and how it functions as a unifying feature in all the Court's race jurisprudence, this book illustrates the consequences of this ostensible impartiality. By examining the Court's racial jurisprudence dating back to the Reconstruction, the book shows how the Court has actively rationalized systemic oppression through neutral rhetoric and the elevation of process-based decisional values, which are rooted in democratic myths of inclusivity and openness. Timely and trenchant, the book illustrates the permanence of racism and how neutrality must be rejected to achieve true empowerment and substantive equality.

About this title

About the Author

Cedric Merlin Powell is the Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs Professor of Law and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. His extensive publications in articles, essays, and book reviews explore the connection between neutrality and structural inequality.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108839940
• ISBN 13: 9781108839945
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 250