American Constitutionalism in Historical Perspective (packet)

Voting –

1. 
   Gomillion v. Lightfoot
   
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   Rogers v. Lodge, 1982: p. 694 court strikes down plan to move from district to at large elections. Departs from Yick Wo and Gomillion, though there is a disproportionate impact on blacks, there are neutral purposes that could be deduced for the change—still struck down. Historical evidence that no black had ever been elected swayed decision.
   
3. 
   Hunter v. Underwood, 1985: p.696 court struck down a law that used moral turpitude to remove voting privileges because it was disproportionately applied to blacks. Found that the law was passed for discriminatory reasons, racial animus in historical record.
   

Racial Segregation (pp. 671-681, 771-793)

1. 
   Background: radical abolitionist were critical of cultural racism & attempts to entrench it w/ segregative practices. Made moral args but politically naïve of how to make racist ppl still respect AA’s rts. Situation deteriorated once No. w/drew from the So. following Reconstruction. Attempt to pass anti-KKK laws but never endorsed proposals for land distribution & education.
   
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      Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896: the court validated sep but equal rule of the south. State may segregate in a way that d/n violate equal protection. Called this colonization, wanted to send AA abroad but d/n want integration. After Civil War, Lincoln shifted in thinking toward integration/voting rts after saw blacks serve in army, but Johnson makes racism in South worse. Majority: Challenges the “underlying fallacy” that forced separation stamps blacks w/ inferiority, if they feel that way, it’s their own fault. P. 67
      
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         Originalist history: Relies on Massachusetts’s history of segregation in schools and anti-miscegenation laws. Equal protection d/n condemn state imposed segregation or anti-miscegenation in Reconstruction Congress. Sharp distinction b/w anti-racism extending to political/civil rts (juries, voting) but not to social rts (education, marriage).
         
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