Justice Deferred

The Supreme Court is usually seen as protector of our liberties: It ended segregation, was a guarantor of fair trials, and safeguarded free speech and the vote. But this narrative derives mostly from a short period, from the 1930s to the early 1970s. Before then, the Court spent a century largely ignoring or suppressing basic rights, while the 50 years since 1970 have witnessed a mostly accelerating retreat from racial justice.

Historian Orville Vernon Burton and civil rights lawyer Armand Derfner shine a powerful light on the Court’s race record – a legacy at times uplifting, but more often distressing and sometimes disgraceful. For nearly a century, the Court ensured that the 19th-century Reconstruction Amendments would not truly free and enfranchise African Americans. And the 21st century has seen a steady erosion of commitments to enforcing hard-won rights.