Critical race judgments : rewritten U.S. court opinions on race and the law
(Book)

"Is it possible to be both a judge and a feminist?" So opens Feminist Judgments, a collection of key decisions in English law rewritten by feminist legal scholars. It is a provocative question, and one that prompted us, a group of critical race theorists, to open this book, Critical Race Judgments, with a similar question: "Is it possible to be both a judge and a critical race theorist?" On one view, the answer is a resounding "no." To put the point the way two critics of the genre once put it, critical race theory is "beyond all reason." Accordingly, that body of work can be neither translated into nor substantively shape the articulation and the development of legal doctrine in the United States. On another view, and the one that informs this project, the answer is unequivocally "yes." The very project of critical race theory is to highlight, contest, reimagine, and rearticulate "the vexed bond between law and racial power.-- ECIP introduction.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"By re-writing US Supreme Court opinions that implicate critical dimensions of racial justice, Critical Race Judgments demonstrates that it's possible to be judge and a critical race theorist. Specific issues covered in these cases include the death penalty, employment, voting, policing, education, the environment, justice, housing, immigration, sexual orientation, segregation, and mass incarceration. While some rewritten cases {u2013} Plessy v. Ferguson (which constitutionalized Jim Crow) and Korematsu v. United States (which constitutionalized internment) {u2013} originally focused on race, many of the rewritten opinions {u2013} Lawrence v. Texas (which constitutionalized sodomy laws) and Roe v. Wade (which constitutionalized a woman's right to choose) {u2013} are used to incorporate racial justice principles in novel and important ways. This work is essential for everyone who needs to understand why critical race theory must be deployed in constitutional law to uphold and advance racial justice principles that are foundational to US democracy."-- from publisher's website.