NYU Dean Emeritus Norman Redlich

D.C. School of Law Founding Dean
William L. Robinson

Elaine R. Jones, NAACP LDF

UDC-DCSL Hosts Civil Rights Symposium and
Portrait Unveiling

On Friday, September 13, 2002, a fabulous multi-racial cross-section of students, faculty, prominent civil rights lawyers, law professors, judges, and alumni — as well as friends and family of Professor William L. Robinson — participated in what certainly ranks as one of the School of Law’s most substantive, stimulating, and star-studded events. The afternoon consisted of a symposium on "The Conservative Constitutional Counter-Revolution," which will be televised on DCTV Public Access Cable Channel 5 throughout the Fall. The evening featured a reception and the unveiling of a portrait of Professor Robinson, founding Dean of the School of Law, who served from 1988 until 1998.

Dean Shelley Broderick opened the symposium with a welcoming address. In her remarks, she emphasized the importance and timeliness of the discussion of recent decisions by the Supreme Court that profoundly affect the power of Congress to pass legislation providing social reforms and protecting individual liberties. The decisions, she said, amounted to a "Conservative Constitutional Counter-Revolution" and she then introduced leading constitutional scholar, New York University Law School Dean Emeritus Norman R. Redlich to discuss the decisions in further detail.

Dean Redlich described the conservative constitutional counter-revolution as a concerted effort to weaken the ability of Congress to advance civil and human rights under the guise of federalism and state sovereignty. He identified a number of specific rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States that illustrate his overall position, including decisions that:

• curtail the wide latitude traditionally given to acts of Congress based on the Commerce Clause;
• curb the powers of Congress based on the Tenth Amendment, despite the long established understanding that the Amendment has no content of its own;
• limit the power of Congress under the Fourteenth Amendment to abrogate states' immunity from liability; and
• restrict the scope of legislation that Congress is authorized to enact under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Professor Redlich concluded that these decisions dictate that Congress become more vigilant in exercising its duty to evaluate the qualifications of those who are nominated to the federal judiciary. He recommended that the Senate determine whether the nominee is predisposed to continue the assault on the power of Congress to enact social legislation and deny confirmation to those who are so inclined.

A distinguished panel of civil rights lawyers discussed the conservative constitutional counter-revolution in terms of the persistence of racism in American law. Each of the panelists discussed how some of the recent cases will make it more difficult or impossible to enforce civil rights laws.

Civil rights attorney Janell Byrd-Chichester focused her remarks on a Supreme Court decision that limits use of the disparate impact test of discrimination in actions to enforce Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. She explained how the decision might make it much more difficult to obtain remedies for racial discrimination.

Tom Henderson, Deputy Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law, pointed out that while the series of cases discussed by Dean Redlich involve issues under the Commerce Clause of the Eleventh Amendment, they will have a major impact on the enforcement of civil rights cases dealing with racial discrimination. These decisions, he said, will make it much more difficult to enforce prohibitions against racial discrimination in a wide variety of cases.

Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, spoke of the need for Congress to play a stronger role in the confirmation of nominees to the federal judiciary and noted that civil rights organizations must provide Congress with relevant information about the background and predisposition of those nominees. He added that the country likely will face at least one nominee for the Supreme Court during the presidency of George Bush, but he also emphasized the need to scrutinize nominations to the federal courts of appeal where most cases are decided.

William Taylor, Vice Chairman of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, reminded the audience that even before its recent turn to the right, the Supreme Court announced decisions in the Milliken and Rodriguez cases that limit school desegregation remedies to the inner city and perpetuate great financial disparities between school districts. He suggested that these decisions might pose the same challenge to current law students that Plessy v. Ferguson did for an earlier generation.

Elaine Jones, Director-Counsel and President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, made the final presentation of the day and set forth a civil rights agenda for the future. Her talk focused on the critical need to preserve and expand the constitutional freedoms embodied by the framers in the phrase, "We the People." She touched on a number of topics, but cited education as her greatest concern. Taken together, she said, schools' increasing racial and ethnic segregation, the isolation of poor students, and the consequences of the "accountability" movement — where failing schools receive the fewest resources and the weakest students — form "a perfect storm." A constitutional amendment mandating a quality education for every student may be the only remedy for the pervasive inequality, according to Ms. Jones.

At the conclusion of the symposium, Dean Broderick thanked Professor Robinson for his decade of service as founding dean of the District of Columbia School of Law and the UDC School of Law. She praised him for having led the fight to protect the School from numerous political attacks and for shepherding it through the process for gaining provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association — not once but twice! Portrait artist Joseph D. Clipper unveiled his rendering of Professor Robinson. Professor Robinson thanked Dean Broderick and acknowledged his wife, family, and many friends. He asked that the portrait be viewed not as a personal monument but as a symbol: that the Constitution exists to advance the protection of civil rights, not to hinder them; that law and lawyers can make a positive contribution to the achievement of a truly just society; and that students at this law school strive not only to become lawyers, but also to become advocates for justice.

See more photos from the event