Episode

(8/26) The Supreme Court’s Real Record On Race w/ Orville Vernon Burton & Armand Derfner

August 26, 2021

Emma hosts Orville Vernon Burton, Professor of Pan-African Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, and Computer Science at Clemson University, as well as civil rights attorney Armand Derfner, to discuss their recent book Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court, on the progressions, and regressions, of the SCOTUS’ relationship to racial justice. Professor Burton and Derfner start us off by bringing us back to the first full century of this countries history, looking at how the Supreme Court of the 19th Century worked alongside the settler-colonial regime as they approved the removal of Native folks from their own land, and upheld rulings on slavery, all stemming from concepts of “ownership” that bolstered our systems of white supremacy, discussing on the Dred Scott and Lone Wolf decisions alongside treaties and cases on disenfranchisement as key examples. Emma, Armand, and Orville use this first century of SCOTUS cases to show the clear politicized role of the Court, dating back to their inception, even resulting in seemingly ahistorical decisions that sided with public opinion over critical thinking. Next, they jump up to the more recent courts, post-1970, as they supported the US’ slide into neoliberalism after forty years of progressive decisions, looking into the slow deconstruction of the Voting Rights Act, looking into how the courts of recent years both align with the original courts, in their ahistorical accounts and differ from them, particularly with the growing divide with public opinion. Lastly, they work through the middle period, from the 1930s to the 70s, and how the courts of these decades, particularly under Chief Justices Hughes and Warren, saw important decisions, even under conservative justices, emphasizing states’ responsibilities alongside their rights. Emma rounds out the free half with disturbing videos from another anti-mask PTC to James Carville making a relatively reasonable point.

And in the Fun Half: Brandon, Emma, and Matt explore the problematic nature of deference to a system that has had more ex confederates than Black jurists (SCOTUS), Amber from Northern Virginia expands on the local organizing of the Right, looking into trans inclusivity policy in her state, and famously anti-war and anti-monarchy Tucker Carlson hosts the prince of war crimes Erik Prince to improv some Afghanistan tactics, using the classic journalist tactic of “yes, and-ing” your guest. Spocko from San Fran chats repercussions for falsified COVID documents, and Brandon and Dave from Jamaica emphasize how this cannot focus on punitive measures of imprisonment. They also chat Mike McKevinMcCarthy and positive coercion, plus, your calls and IMs!

Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com

Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here.

Join the Majority Report Discord!
http://majoritydiscord.com/

Get all your MR merch at our store https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/

(Merch issues and concerns can be addressed here: majorityreportstore@mirrorimage.com)

You can now watch the livestream on Twitch.

Support the St. Vincent Nurses today as they continue to strike for a fair contract! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/

Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/

Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere, at https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere

Check out The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles

Check out Matt Binder’s YouTube channel!

Check out The Nomiki Show live at 3 pm ET on YouTube at patreon.com/thenomikishow

Check out Matt’s podcast, Literary Hangover, at Patreon.com/LiteraryHangover, or on iTunes.

Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada, at patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!)

Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter:

@SamSeder

@EmmaVigeland

@MattBinder

@MattLech

@BF1nn

@BradKAlsop

Past Episodes

It's Newsday Tuesday! Sam and Emma are back from the long weekend to break down the biggest headlines of the day. First, they run through updates on the final three weeks of the election cycle, Israel’s continuing war crimes and genocide, Blinken’s supposed demands for Israel, Trump’s string of ...
It's Casual Friday! Emma speaks with Dave Weigel, politics writer at Semafor, author of the "Americana" newsletter, to discuss the biggest headlines of the week. Then, she speaks with comedian Francesca Fiorentini, host of the Bitchuation Room! First, Emma runs through updates on Israel’s ...
It's ESVN OT and Emma and Bradley are giving their picks for week 6 of NFL action! Follow Emma and Bradley on Twitter: @EmmaVigeland @BradKAlsop Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ EMMA AND BRADLEY'S PICKS OF THE WEEK: Emma (6-8-1): 49ers -3.5 vs. ...