Law Commons^™

Whither The Canaries: On The Exclusion Of Poor People From Equal Constitutional Protection, Julie Nice

Julie A. Nice

While neoliberal orthodoxy posits that a rising tide of economic growth will lift all boats, a sea change began in the United States around 1970 that marked the end of our social commitment to shared prosperity and the beginning of the steady widening of income inequality to its current historic level. In response, poor people might have been expected to turn to the courts for protection against the perennially pervasive prejudice against them, especially considering their relative—if not absolute—lack of political clout. But the Supreme Court had virtually closed the courthouse door in Dandridge v. Williams, affording to poor people …