We the People Volume 3

We the People #3

by Bruce Ackerman

The Civil Rights Revolution carries Bruce Ackerman's sweeping reinterpretation of constitutional history into the era beginning with Brown v. Board of Education. From Rosa Parks's courageous defiance, to Martin Luther King's resounding cadences in "I Have a Dream," to Lyndon Johnson's leadership of Congress, to the Supreme Court's decisions redefining the meaning of equality, the movement to end racial discrimination decisively changed our understanding of the Constitution. Ackerman anchors his discussion in the landmark statutes of the 1960 the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Challenging conventional legal analysis and arguing instead that constitutional politics won the day, he describes the complex interactions among branches of government--and also between government and the ordinary people who participated in the struggle. He showcases leaders such as Everett Dirksen, Hubert Humphrey, and Richard Nixon who insisted on real change, not just formal equality, for blacks and other minorities. The civil rights revolution transformed the Constitution, but not through judicial activism or Article V amendments. The breakthrough was the passage of laws that ended the institutionalized humiliations of Jim Crow and ensured equal rights at work, in schools, and in the voting booth. This legislation gained congressional approval only because of the mobilized support of the American people--and their principles deserve a central place in the nation's history. Ackerman's arguments are especially important at a time when the Roberts Court is actively undermining major achievements of America's Second Reconstruction.

Genres: Law, History, American History

432 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2014

Reviews

[Mauni · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the Supreme Court must determine the meaning of a constitutional provision, or a statute, it cannot be expected to conduct years of archival research on the historical principles hammered into law. Which texts belong to the canon? What makes a statute a “landmark,”? Or a precedent a “superprecedent”? Can we imagine the Supreme Court ever ruling that the hypothetical legislative repeal of a “landmark statute” (voting rights act) was unconstitutional? Ackerman’s theory and history of constitutional politics is aimed at securing answers to these thorny questions, while crediting the great achievements of the New Deal and Civil Rights generation.

Historically, Ackerman challenges conventional legal analysis of the Civil Rights movement: it was not through judicial activism but rather the passage of laws that ended the institutionalized humiliations of Jim Crow and ensured equal rights at work, in schools, and in the voting booth. This legislation gained congressional approval only because of the mobilized support of the American people.

In terms of constitutional theory, Ackerman describes the complex interactions (a Hegelian dialectic is at play) among branches of government—and also between government and the ordinary people who participated in the struggle. He narrates how leaders such as Everett Dirksen, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and, surprisingly, Richard Nixon each insisted on real change, not just formal equality, for minorities, thereby ushering in a constitutional order that is presently being eroded by the Robert's Court.

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A likely story.