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8 N.C. Cent. L.J. 87 (1976-1977)
The Supreme Court and Washington v. Davis - A Rationale for Racism

handle is hein.journals/ncclj8 and id is 93 raw text is: THE SUPREME COURT AND WASHINGTON V. DA VIS--A RATIONALE FOR RACISM? JOHN D. DAVIS I. INTRODUCTION In no other areas more than civil rights and civil liberties does the American justice system brush more intimately with the most fundamental social issues of our nation. For that reason, advocates of civil rights and civil liberties greeted the retirement announcements of each Warren Court member with considerable dismay-a consternation matched only by the trepidation with which they awaited the appointments of the Nixon nominees to the Supreme Court. As first one, then two, three, and finally, four members of the most liberal Supreme Court bench in history succumbed to the rigors of age, fatigue and infirmity, the prophets of doom began to sound their forecasts for the deathknell of civil rights. As each Warren Court justice stepped down, the cries of the harbingers of civil rights doom became more strident, and the anxiety within the hearts of civil rights advocates grew. Almost with a hush, civil libertarians settled back to await what they were certain would be wholesale reversals of all their hard-fought gains achieved during the previ- ous two decades. Those twenty years were the culmination of almost fifty years of struggle during which the alienated and powerless in our society, through prayers, parades and activism had sensitized and educated the Great Society and its courts to respond with legislative programs and judicial decisions that gave them some promise that the justice, equality and brotherhood upon which this country was founded might at last be within reach of the desperate grasps of our disadvantaged and oppressed. But with the inception of the era of Benign Neglect and a once-again conservative court, most civil rights advocates forecast a steady erosion of the principles of fairness, as the political and economic scions of the country demand that order receive primacy even over justice, and the anti-Warren Court status quo be resurrected. Slowly, at first, and now with a frequency and boldness most apparent in the area of criminal procedure, the current Supreme Court has begun to justify the fears of many that some of the more liberal Warren Court decisions will be overruled. In the area of racial discrimination the Burger Court, while obviously desirous of delimiting the gains made by Blacks in employment and school desegregation, has rendered a number of judgments inconsistent with that judicial philosophy. Especially in employment discrimination, there have been some landmark holdings to the advantage of Black Americans' * Director of the NBA, EEOC Law Project. J.D. 1971, University of Denver; A.B. 1964, Wabash College. Mr. Davis acknowledges the research assistance of Herschelle Reed, J.D. 1976, Howard University.

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