-By Gilien Silsby and Lori Stuenkel
Constitutional law scholar Rebecca Brown recently presented a talk on the U.S. Supreme Court to research assistants, faculty and librarians at USC Law.
Brown, a Vanderbilt University law professor who will join the USC Law faculty in 2008, wrapped up a summertime luncheon series that previously highlighted the work of Professors Jody Armour and John Barnett.
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| Rebecca Brown |
“Some significant constitutional problems we face today started as a solution,” Brown said. “The rights revolution of the Warren Court era developed as a solution to some egregious constitutional concerns of the 20th century, but may have left us without the tools to address those of the 21st century.”
Brown said that the court may maintain a shell of the juricentric rights paradigm, but it lacks core judicial commitments to develop social progress and constitutional integrity.
“As a society, we developed our faith in a rights paradigm through the horrific images of individuals suffering injustice at the hands of the state,” Brown said. “To a large extent the solution was successful. Today, however, the worrisome encroachments on our liberty seem to be of a very different sort, of a more collective nature. The challenge will be to find a way to address them and continue the evolution of our constitutionalism.”
Brown said that as she develops her paper, she hopes USC Law research assistants will help her analyze related legal issues.
“One of the best parts about teaching is interacting with students like you,” she said at the talk.
Likewise, Armour and Barnett are encouraging research assistants to help them.
Barnett’s talk in July discussed “Regime Change in Innovation Markets: A Structural Analysis.”
In June, Armour explored different theories of language and how the connection between language and consciousness affects racial discourse, specifically the use of the word “nigger.”
According to Armour, language is normally thought of as a conduit between internal and external communication – therefore, discourse was an indication of consciousness. Using this approach, he said, a word like “nigger” expresses a thought or idea when rappers use it in music or when Aaron McGruder uses it in his comic strip “The Boondocks.”
Under a new approach, language is a tool for explaining facts that draws on senses and references, Armour explained. Words are defined by and tied to their previous uses.
“Many opponents of the use of the ‘N’ word are suffering from a false consciousness … that somehow, because the word itself has roots from a poisonous past, that any present-day uses are fruit of the poisonous tree,” Armour said. “I’m very skeptical of this idea that any group has an identity that (finds) its consciousness in society.”
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