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Patterson And Civil Rights: What Rough Beast Slouches Towards Bethlehem To Be Born?, Peter Brandon Bayer
Patterson And Civil Rights: What Rough Beast Slouches Towards Bethlehem To Be Born?, Peter Brandon Bayer
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Contrary to its assertions, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Patterson decision marks a stark departure from the federal courts' former practice of according Congressional civil rights enactments a broad reading to effectuate their remedial purposes. Indeed, Patterson offers an exceedingly narrow interpretation of this nation's oldest civil rights law, the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
In addition to its effect on the scope and application of § 1981, Patterson must be read in conjunction with several other decisions issued during the same term that limit—indeed retreat from—the application of civil rights laws designed to restore both lost opportunities and …