WGBH Forum Network; US Supreme Court and Race

Kennedy, Randall · March 10, 2010

Two Harvard legal scholars discuss the complex and often misunderstood history of how decisions by the United States Supreme Court have affected the legal status of racial minorities in America, and ask if the Supreme Court has been a friend or a foe to African Americans. Conventional wisdom suggests that the high court, throughout its history, has consistently defended racial minorities from discriminatory policies. That interpretation may be more sympathetic than the Courts actual record warrants.In a talk at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Law Professor Michael Klarman suggests that the Supreme Court, more often than not, has been a regressive force on racial issues. Klarman is introduced, and then joined in conversation, by his Harvard Law School colleague Professor Randall Kennedy.