So long civil rights, at least for voting, or at least it took a heavy, Die Hard–like blow. Say goodbye to the VRA (Voting Rights Act), a historic piece of legislation that has become just that — history — as the Supreme Court gutted a key section, ruling the formula for preclearance unconstitutional in a 5-4 decision with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority (winning) opinion.
I certainly thought there would be a man-on-man tussle between Obama and JR (Roberts), as I mentioned in Out of Many, One: Obama and the Third American Political Tradition. I didn’t quite see it going down like this — man-on-man Die Hard action, with JR more Bruce (Willis) than Matt (Damon). Well, we all knew that JR was spoiling for a Separation of Powers fight, and he threw a heavy punch this morning at our former civil-rights professor, President Obama.
Professor Ruth O’Brien, who earned her Ph.D. in political science at UCLA, joined the Graduate Center’s doctoral faculty in 1997 and, in 2004, founded the “Writing Politics” specialization in political science. She also serves as an adjunct affiliated scholar with the Center for American Progress. In her research and books, she focuses on American politics, law, political theory without national borders, globalism, and American/global dichotomy. She edits the award-winning “Public Square” series for Princeton University Press, showcasing public intellectuals such as Jill Lepore, Jeff Madrick, Anne Norton, Martha Nussbaum, and Joan Scott. O’Brien is also launching “Heretical Thought,” an Oxford University Press political-theory series that is global in outlook. Her latest book, Out of Many One: Obama and the Third American Political Tradition (2013), with a foreword by journalist Thomas Byrnes Edsall, distinguished professor at Columbia’s School of Journalism, was honored with a 2013 “Author Meets Critic” American Political Science Association convention session. She also wrote Bodies in Revolt: Gender, Disability, and a Workplace Ethic of Care (2005), Crippled Justice: The History of Modern Disability Policy in the Workplace (2001), which received an honorable mention from Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Human Rights and Bigotry (“Meyers Center”), and Workers’ Paradox: The Republican Origins of the New Deal Labor Policy, 1886–1935 (1998). “Writing Politics” emanated from two books she contributed to and edited: Telling Stories out of Court: Narratives about Women and Workplace Discrimination (2008) and Voices from the Edge: Narratives about the Americans with Disabilities Act (2004), which earned another honorable mention from the Meyers Center. O’Brien’s controversial blog led Rush Limbaugh to dub her a “professorette.”
So long civil rights, at least for voting, or at least it took a heavy, Die Hard–like blow. Say goodbye to the VRA (Voting Rights Act), a historic piece of legislation that has become just that — history — as the Supreme Court gutted a key section, ruling the formula for preclearance unconstitutional in a 5-4 decision with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority (winning) opinion.
