“A Splendid Bauble”

Since 1969, scholars have insisted that McCulloch v. Maryland established the foundations of the modern welfare state, yet during this same period, the Supreme Court has retreated from implied commerce powers and broad Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment enforcement powers. In NFIB v. Sebelius (2012), five justices agreed that the implied powers doctrine should not be applied to the Commerce Clause, and in Gonzales v. Raich (2005), eight justices ignored McCulloch, appearing to believe that implied commerce powers were irrelevant to the decision. In Shelby County v. Holder (2015), five justices disregarded McCulloch’s deferential approach to “appropriate legislation” to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments. The treatment of McCulloch as a binding precedent doing doctrinal work in cases of implied commerce powers and implied Reconstruction Amendment enforcement powers was short lived. Liberal scholars seem to want to use McCulloch to exhort the Court to be more permissive toward implied congressional powers.

Southern Disfranchisement and the Long Origins of the Voter Education Project

This chapter gives the century-long context to the VEP, going back to Reconstruction and the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. To fight back against white supremacy and disfranchisement, African Americans pursued voting rights and political power, though with limited success before the VEP. This chapter argues that three main events led to the VEP. First, the Southern Regional Council trailblazed a research path; second, the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom signalled to the nation that black voting rights were patriotic and Christian; and third, the Crusade for Citizenship failed, but proved that a southwide social movement for the ballot was possible.