Some of the country’s leading legal scholars, lawyers and civil rights activists met for a two-day online symposium on the UNC Center for Civil Rights.
The speaker and panelist explored the origins, current status and future promise of the equality clause.
The Equal Protection Great Promise and Betrayal program: Reconstruction, Plessy for Bakke and Beyond: Is There a Way Forward? ” was hosted by the UNC School of Law. It took place via Zoom Thursday and Friday.
The program consisted of six panels and several events addressing modern issues of the US Supreme Court with far-reaching and detrimental consequences. The consequences, according to the panelists, particularly affect people of color in the areas of desegregation, housing and labor law, access to government services, criminal justice, voting rights and higher education.
The first panel was “Beyond Chattel Slavery: The 39th Congress contains a new fourteenth amendment, an equal treatment clause, and Bylaws for Positive Action in Support of Newly Liberated African Americans.” The panelists were Yale University Law Professor Akhil Amar and Washington University Law Professor Eric Schnapper. The moderator was the Dean of the University of Virginia Law School, Risa L. Goluboff.
On the first panel, Amar said that the 13th amendment created the need for the 14th and 15th amendments.
“Often when you solve one problem, you create other problems,” said Amar. “Success means creating new problems for yourself.”
He then explained the importance of the 14th Amendment and the personal impact on him.
“I was born in the United States, but my parents are not American citizens,” said Amar. “When I was born, the 14th Amendment gave me an amazing gift that makes me a citizen, an equal citizen with equal civil rights.”
Schnapper talked about other laws, including the Freedmen’s Bureau Act of 1865.
“The act actually happened before the 13th Amendment came into force. It deals with the consequences of the declaration of emancipation,” said Schnapper. “So the law of 1865 protected freedmen and refugees.”
Eric Foner, professor at Columbia University, gave a presentation on Thursday at the annual Frank Porter Graham Lecture in connection with the symposium.
“The Civil War and Reconstruction, as you know, changed American society in countless ways. Much of its impact is still with us today,” said Foner.
Foner also explained sections of the 14th Amendment. Section three disqualified senior Confederates from holding local, state, or national office and stated that representatives who have participated in rebellions or insurrections against the state cannot serve in government.
Foner said he thinks the ability to expel people from office could even be applied today.
“Section three can and should be applied to ex-President Trump as well as others,” said Foner. “The January 6 mob included public officials from various localities and military veterans who participated in the uprising.”
At the end of the symposium, the UNC law professor and director of the UNC Center for Civil Rights, Theodore Shaw, thanked the participants and participants.
“I want to thank you all for allowing us to virtually come to your home,” Shaw said. “I love the opportunity to see people even when they are virtual in their home.”
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