Battle for the Constitution: Week of August 3rd, 2020 Roundup

Below is a round-up of the latest from the Battle for the Constitution: a special project on the constitutional debates in American life, in partnership with The Atlantic.

Can Anything Be Done to Rein In the President’s Speech?

By Kate Shaw, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy, Yeshiva University Cardozo School of Law

Kate Shaw argues that Donald Trump’s rhetoric is an issue for the country, and that individuals and organizations at all levels need to take steps to stop its worst effects.

The Nation’s First Civil-Rights Law Needs to Be Fixed

By U.W. Clemon, Former Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama; Joshua Karsh, Lawyer, Mehri & Skalet; Cyrus Mehri, Founding Partner, Mehri & Skalet

U.W. Clemon, Joshua Karsh, and Cyrus Mehri detail how the promise of one of the nation’s bedrock civil rights laws—the Civil Rights Act of 1866—and one section in particular, Section 1981, have been hollowed out by the Supreme Court and exhort Congress to amend and revitalize it.

The Supreme Court Is Avoiding Talking About Race

By Neil Siegel, David W. Ichel Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science, Duke Law School

Neil Siegel describes a worrying trend at the Supreme Court of not discussing race in key decisions where it is manifestly relevant.