Fred Huby Memorial Professor Jamel K. Donnor presented at the American Educational Studies Association annual conference

Summary

Donnor presented “Toward a More Thorough Appraisal of Justice John Marshall Harlan’s Colorblind Constitutionalism​” at the American Educational Studies Association annual conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Oct. 29-Nov. 2, 2025.

Full Description

This working academic paper by Fred Huby Memorial Professor Jamel K. Donnor provides an intellectually honest account of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan’s dissenting opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson, in which he espoused “[o]ur Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights all citizens are equal before the law.” In this more thorough appraisal of the Plessy decision, this paper argues that contrary to popular perception, Justice Harlan articulated a jurisprudence of race consciousness. According to Justice Harlan, “[i]n my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case.” Rather than articulate a jurisprudence for interpreting the Constitution as a colorblind document, this working academic paper contends that Justice Harlan’s dissent was a legal blueprint for a color conscious Constitution, not a colorblind society.