Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Justice Jackson Schools Alabama Lawyer On Race-Based Intent Of Founders In Voting Rights Case

Supreme Court of the United States Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

Newest SCOTUS Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave Alabama's Edmund LaCour a history lesson on the 14th Amendment.

In just her first week on the Supreme Court (SCOTUS), Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson hit the ground running.

The SCOTUS heard arguments in Merrill v. Milligan—an Alabama congressional redistricting case about packing Black voters into a single congressional district diluting their voting power.


This is a practice prohibited by Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Justice Jackson used a conservative stance —Constitutional originalism— to prove the Reconstruction amendments focused on race. This contradicts a widely held conservative argument that the Constitution is race-neutral.

You can hear her remarks here:


Speaking to Alabama Solicitor General Edmund LaCour, Jackson reminded LaCour the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments are explicitly related to race.

She said:

"I don’t think we can assume that just because race is taken into account, that that necessarily creates an equal protection problem."
“I understood that we looked at the history and traditions of the constitution, at what the Framers and the Founders thought about. And when I drilled down to that level of analysis, it became clear to me that the framers themselves adopted the equal protection clause, the 14th Amendment, the 15th Amendment, in a race-conscious way.”

She explained:

"That we were, in fact, trying to ensure that people who had been discriminated against, the Freedman, during the Reconstruction period, were actually brought equal to everyone else in society.”
"[The 14th Amendment was adopted] to ensure that people who had been discriminated against, the freedmen, during the Reconstruction period, were actually brought equal to everyone else in society.”

Jackson continued:

"I looked at the report that was submitted by the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, which drafted the 14th Amendment, and that report says that the entire point of the amendment was to secure rights of the freed former slaves.”

Quoting an 1866 speech by Pennsylvania Republican Representative Thaddeus Stevens— a strong proponent of civil rights for Black people—she added:

"That report says that the entire point of the amendment was to secure rights of the freed former slaves."
"The legislator who introduced that amendment said that ‘unless the Constitution should restrain them, those states will all, I fear, keep up this discrimination and crush to death the hated Freedman'."

Jackson stated:

“That’s not a race-neutral or race-blind idea, in terms of the remedy."

Jackson noted one purpose of the 14th Amendment was to provide a constitutional foundation to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which:

“specifically stated that citizens would have the same civil rights as enjoyed by White citizens. That’s the point of that act, to ensure that the other citizens, the Black citizens, would have the same as the White citizens.”

Justice Jackson then told LaCour:

“With that background, I’m trying to understand your position [on] Section 2, which by its plain text is doing that same thing."
"It’s saying: You need to identify people in this community who have less opportunity and less ability to participate and ensure that that’s remedied. It’s a race-conscious effort, as you have indicated."
"I’m trying to understand why that violates the 14th amendment given the history and background of the 14th Amendment.”

People applauded Justice Jackson’s efforts in a court they felt no longer confident in.







While Justice Jackson’s presence was welcomed, many felt reformation was needed for a court packed by former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to put the Bible ahead of the Constitution in SCOTUS.

People are still calling for four more justices to be added to reflect the current 13 circuit courts.

SCOTUS currently has nine justices because there were nine circuit courts the last time the number of SCOTUS justices was addressed.

Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to change the size of the Supreme Court.

Congress used that authority seven times before.

More from News

Dave Coulier
Gerardo Mora/Getty Ima

'Full House' Stars Share Emotional Celebrations After Dave Coulier Reveals He's Cancer-Free

Fans of Full House were rejoicing recently when it was announced that Dave Coulier had been pronounced cancer free after a 6-month fight with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Back in October 2024, he announced he had been diagnosed with a form of cancer of the lymphatic system after noticing an outsized lymph node that swelled to the size of a golf ball after he was ill from an otherwise benign virus.

Keep ReadingShow less
Newt Gingrich; Joe Neguse
C-SPAN

Dem Rep. Brings The Receipts After Newt Gingrich Claims Biden Judges Are Staging 'Coup'

On Tuesday, the House Democrats of the Judiciary Committee countered Republican efforts to undermine the constitutional role of an independent federal Judiciary branch—which is to provide checks and balances against the Executive and Legislative branches.

House Republicans—led by Judiciary Committee chair and friend-of-Donald, Jim Jordan—seek to retaliate against federal judges for following the United States Constitution and the rule of law.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nettie and Darrel Yeager
Darwell Yeager III/Facebook

Mississippi Restaurant Sparks Outrage After Offering Discount To Straight Couples Only

A Mississippi couple are in hot water online after offering a straight-couples discount at their restaurant.

Darrel and Nettie Yeager, owners of Darwell's Happiness Café, took to Facebook on March 25 to announce that any couple "who can produce a child" would get a special bonus.

Keep ReadingShow less
Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Jesse Watters
Fox News

Jesse Watters Slammed Over Crass Question He Wanted To Ask Stranded Astronauts

Fox News host Jesse Watters shared a cringey question that was one giant leap backward for mankind.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore gave their first official interview after safely returning from their nine-month long extended stay aboard the International Space Station after thinking they would return in eight days.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kid Rock
Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Kid Rock Dragged After Donning A Truly Over-The-Top Outfit For His White House Visit

Singer Kid Rock was slammed for wearing a loud patriotic costume inside the Oval Office as Republican President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday against ticket scalping.

The rocker's outfit consisted of a red, white, and blue jacket emblazoned with two eagles facing each other above the American flag with the number 250, a nod to America's upcoming 250th anniversary, and white stars on his sleeves.

Keep ReadingShow less