Abstract
“[L]ebensunwertes Leben—Life Unworthy of Life.” Those words, used by the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in Germany to describe people with genetic disorders, ring throughout world history as a moral indictment of the Nazi German state and all those who collaborated with it. Unfortunately, Germany was not alone in its designation of some people as unworthy of life; the United States has also, throughout its history, given the same designation to portions of its population. From Japanese-Americans during the Second World War to people with disabilities in the era of eugenics, the American government has frequently singled out those whom it believes to be undeserving of full constitutional rights. When American courts ratified such actions, legal commentators rightly described these decisions as “black mark[s]” on the entirety of American jurisprudence.
Recommended Citation
Paul J. Wuennenberg,
Removing “Black Marks”: How States Can Preserve Wrongful Birth Suits Without Reliance on “Eugenic” Rhetoric,
90 Mo. L. Rev.
(2025)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol90/iss3/19