Professor Ruth Colker discusses her 2022 Utah Law Review article, “The White Supremacist Constitution.” The United States Constitution is a document that, during every era, has helped further white supremacy. White supremacy constitutes a “political, economic and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources.” Professor Colker discusses how the U.S. Constitution has been used by the Supreme Court to limit racial progress and Congressional power to address racism through legistlation. With appeals to Equal Protection Statues and Originalism, the Justices have interpreted the Constitutional meaning to sustain and, in some cases, white power and control of societial resources.
Professor Ruth Colker, Distinguished University Professor and Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law, is one of the leading scholars in the country in the areas of Constitutional Law and Disability Discrimination. She is the author of 16 books, two of which have won book prizes. She has also published more than 50 articles in law journals such as the Boston University Law Review, Columbia Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Michigan Law Journal, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, University of Virginia Law Review and Yale Law Journal.