Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
Publication Information
127 Yale L. J. F. 221 (2017)
Abstract
To comprehend Justice Thomas’s views on racial equality requires an understanding of how his life experiences influence his approach to questions of race and the law. Recurring themes in his opinions about racial equality include his belief that racial preferences stigmatize their beneficiaries, his concern that the prevailing notion that racial integration is necessary to black achievement is rooted in a presumption of racial inferiority, his worry that affirmative action efforts provide cover for the failure to address the urgent needs of disadvantaged Americans, and his knowledge that seemingly benign policies can mask illicit motives. Finally, Justice Thomas contends that the a proper understanding of the Equal Protection Clause precludes the use of racial classification in all but the narrowest of circumstances.
Recommended Citation
Nicole S. Garnett & William S. Consovoy,
"To Help, Not to Hurt": Justice Thomas's Equality Canon,
127 Yale L. J. F. 221 (2017).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1291
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Fourteenth Amendment Commons, Law and Race Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons