37 Quotes by Erwin Chemerinsky

Chief Justice Roberts has expressly said that the Constitution and the government should be colorblind, he sees no difference between government action that discriminates against minorities and one that benefits minorities.

I am obviously disappointed. There is no sensitivity in this opinion to the important concern the law schools have.

The key question, and one we won't know the answer to until after jury deliberations, is will the jury then dismiss all of Mark Fuhrman's testimony from consideration.

The Constitution says that it is the electoral college that determines who is the president. It leaves no doubt.

It is often forgotten today that Plessy v. Ferguson was not an isolated Supreme Court decision. In case after case, the Court reaffirmed and upheld the ability of states to enforce apartheid.

Fourth Amendment, which requires a judge-issued warrant for an arrest; the Fifth Amendment, which requires a grand jury indictment before a person is held for trial; and the Sixth Amendment, which says that a person can be imprisoned only after conviction by a jury based on proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

For almost a century after the Slaughter-House Cases, the Court followed this narrow reading of the Equal Protection Clause and refused to use it to stop other types of discrimination. For example, in 1875, two years after the Slaughter-House Cases, the Supreme Court held that it was constitutional to deny women the right to vote.

In a society with a long history of discrimination, there should be a presumption that many laws with a discriminatory impact likely were motivated by a discriminatory purpose.

Freedom of speech is essential to freedom of thought; it is essential to democratic self-governance; and the alternative – government censorship and control of ideas – has always led to disaster.