Synopses & Reviews
Challenging recent trends both in historical scholarship and in Supreme Court decisions on civil rights, J. Morgan Kousser criticizes the Court's "postmodern equal protection" and demonstrates that legislative and judicial history still matter for public policy.
Offering an original interpretation of the failure of the First Reconstruction (after the Civil War) by comparing it with the relative success of the Second (after World War II), Kousser argues that institutions and institutional rulesnot customs, ideas, attitudes, culture, or individual behaviorhave been the primary forces shaping American race relations throughout the country's history. Using detailed case studies of redistricting decisions and the tailoring of electoral laws from Los Angeles to the Deep South, he documents how such rules were designed to discriminate against African Americans and Latinos.
Kousser contends that far from being colorblind, Shaw v. Reno (1993) and subsequent "racial gerrymandering" decisions of the Supreme Court are intensely color-conscious. Far from being conservative, he argues, the five majority justices and their academic supporters are unreconstructed radicals who twist history and ignore current realities. A more balanced view of that history, he insists, dictates a reversal of Shaw and a return to the promise of both Reconstructions.
Review
Engaging, provocative, and insightful.
Michigan Law Review
Review
Historians, lawyers, legislators, and activists will have to read his work with close and respectful attention.
North Carolina Historical Review
Review
One should not ignore this important history, nor can one ignore Kousser's challenge to our profession.
Journal of American History
Review
"One should not ignore this important history, nor can one ignore Kousser's challenge to our profession.
Journal of American History"
Review
[A] very convincing indictment of the role of the Supreme Court in the battle over equal voting rights.
Law and Politics Review
Review
[A] thoroughly researched and well-argued book.
Law and History Review
Synopsis
The first book-length study of the Supreme Court's "racial gerrymandering" decisions as well as the first sustained comparison of the First and Second Reconstructions.
Synopsis
Engaging, provocative, and insightful.
Michigan Law Review Historians, lawyers, legislators, and activists will have to read his work with close and respectful attention.
North Carolina Historical Review [A] thoroughly researched and well-argued book.
Law and History Review One should not ignore this important history, nor can one ignore Kousser's challenge to our profession.
Journal of American History [A] very convincing indictment of the role of the Supreme Court in the battle over equal voting rights.
Law and Politics Review
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction: Institutions and the Struggle for Equality
1. The Voting Rights Act and the Two Reconstructions
2. Real Racial Gerrymandering--Lessons from L.A.
3. Changing the Rules to Preserve White Supremacy in Memphis
4. Controlling the "Bloc Vote" in Georgia
5. A Century of Electoral Discrimination in North Carolina
6. Traditional Districting Principles, Texas-style
7. Intent and Effect in Law and History
8. Shaw and Postmodern Equal Protection
9. History and Equality
Notes
Bibliography
Figures
1.1. Number of Southern Black Legislators, 1868-1900 and 1960-1992
1.2. Racial Gerrymandering in South Carolina: Congressional District Boundaries in 1883 Compared to 1875
1.3. Racial Gerrymandering in Mississippi: Congressional District Boundaries in 1877 and 1883 Compared to 1873
1.4. Percentage of New Members in Congress, 1866-1900 and 1958-1992: Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio Delegations
1.5. Members' Length of Service in Congress, 1865-1903 and 1957-1993: Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio Delegations
1.6. Margins of Victory in Congressional Elections, 1864-1900 and 1956-1992: Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio
1.7. Volatility in Congressional Elections, 1864-1900 and 1956-1992: Republican Votes vs. Republican Seats Won in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio
1.8. Party Balance in Congress in Election Years, 1864-1900 and 1956-1992
1.9. Volatility in Presidential Elections, 1868-1900 and 1956-1988: All States
2.1. The Third District and the Hispanic Population Grew in Opposite Directions, 1958-1981
2.2. The Third District's Trek West and North, 1958-1971
2.3. Two Boundary Shifts in 1965 Preserved Anglo Supremacy in the Third District
2.4. Hypothetical and Actual 1971 Redistricting
2.5. An Attempt to Turn a Legal Defeat into a Partisan Gerrymander
4.1. Percentage of Eligible Blacks Registered to Vote in Georgia, 1940-1969
5.1. Did White Faces Represent Black Interests in North Carolina?
8.1. Two Congressional Districts in Texas, 1992
Tables
1.1. Republican Share of Vote in Presidential Elections Following Violent Racial Incidents, Selected Southern Counties, 1866-1876
1.2. Partisan Lineups in House and Senate Votes on Civil Rights Laws, 1866-1890
1.3. Partisan Lineups in House and Senate Votes on Civil Rights Laws, 1957-1982
2.1. Every Redistricting from 1959 through 1981 "Whitened" the Third District
3.1. Voter Registration and Turnout in Memphis and Shelby Counties, Tennessee, 1885-1991
4.1. Did Georgia House Members Favor the Majority-Vote Requirement for Racial Reasons? Ordered Probit Analysis of House Vote on H.B. 117
5.1. Partisan Effects of Redistricting Plans Proposed in 1991 and 1992
5.2. Differences in Attitudes by Race in North Carolina, 1993
7.1. Laundry License Approval and Race of Ownership in San Francisco, 1880s
7.2. Percentage of Massachusetts Residents Appointed to State Jobs, 1963-1973, Who Were Veterans, by Gender