Securing Justice: A Response to William Bradford Reynolds

Authors

Michael A. Middleton, University of Missouri School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1987

Abstract

I doubt that William Bradford Reynolds would disagree that the self evident truths the Framers of the Declaration of Independence spoke about are as applicable today in the 1980's as they were over 200 years ago. I also doubt that Mr. Reynolds would disagree that despite the fact that black people were not considered human beings when the Constitution was framed, the fourteenth amendment to that great document was intended to bring them within the ambit of its protections. On these two basic propositions, I suspect, Mr. Reynolds and I would agree. Beyond that however, Mr. Reynolds advances a fundamentally flawed analysis of the fourteenth amendment that, if adopted, would limit its interpretation in such a manner that its meaning would be frozen in a time that cannot and should not be considered comparable to the America of 1987 (or, indeed, 2087). Mr. Reynolds' analysis would also deny to government the power effectively to remedy what, in my view, is our nation's most egregious social wrong. With this approach, I cannot agree.

Recommended Citation

Michael A. Middleton, Securing Justice: A Response to William Bradford Reynolds, 52 Mo. L. Rev. 607 (1987)