(The Root) — As the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments this week in Fisher v. University of Texas, we can expect our country to descend into the now standard hand-wringing about affirmative action. But our conversations about Fisher, like those surrounding the Ricci v. DeStefano firefighter case four years ago and the Grutter…

(The Root) — The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decision (pdf) to halt implementation of Pennsylvania’s voter-ID law until after the 2012 election may represent another tipping point in the Republican battle to limit the vote of likely Democratic voters. Advocates fighting to halt the imposition of these restrictive voting laws have won — in whole or…

(The Root) — In states from Florida to Pennsylvania, Republican Party efforts to diminish minority voting strength for this year’s presidential election are a sobering reminder that the struggle for full civil rights is not over. But it’s not only black voters who should be concerned about Republican voter-suppression tactics. The GOP’s war on voting…

(The Root) — Without question, the Supreme Court’s health care ruling boosted President Obama’s legitimacy and his chances to hold onto the White House in the November elections. But perhaps even more importantly, the court’s 5-4 decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act may have salvaged the increasingly questionable legitimacy of the Supreme Court. Chief…

Almost a year ago Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote (pdf), “Prisoners retain the essence of human dignity inherent in all persons.” This week in Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of County of Burlington (pdf), Kennedy abandoned the commitment to the inherent dignity of those held in custody by the state and ruled that correctional authorities…

If you’ve ever worked as a lawyer at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, no matter how long ago or for how long, then you are a member of a large, extended family of some of the smartest, most inspiring individuals you’ll ever meet. Many of us manage to stay in touch by email, or we…

Montana judge Richard Cebull has apologized to President Obama for emailing a disgusting, racist joke at the expense of the president, the president’s mother and Cebull’s own dignity. If I know our high-minded, dignified president, he will accept the disgraced federal judge’s apology. He should not. For any sober, thinking person, the email in question,…

There’s no area in which the wishful thinking of those who predicted an age of post-blackness has been more fully discredited than in the intersection of race and the law. From the continued and, some argue, intensified plague of police brutality to the ongoing prevalence of employment and housing discrimination, 2011 was a testament to…

Those who are still confused about why Republicans spend so much energy making it harder for people to vote should pay some attention to a case that concluded this week in a courtroom in Baltimore. There, the campaign manager for 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate, and former Maryland governor, Robert Ehrlich was tried and found guilty…