Commentary by Sherrilyn Ifill

Sherrilyn Infill, ConLawProf at the University of Maryland School of Law and author of On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-first Century, has two recent commentaries worth reading.

In her just published and provocatively titled commentary, "What the U.S. Supreme Court Did to Us This Year"  Ifill begins by noting the confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee of Elena Kagan and notes:

Kagan will join a court whose conservative majority has aggressively taken and decided cases that are transforming the constitutional landscape in ways that will have far-reaching effects. Some Supreme Court analysts have rated the court's actions in the just-concluded term as unremarkable. But for average Americans and for minority communities, the 2009-2010 term of the court is a significant one.

She then discusses Sixth Amendment cases, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission and McDonald v. City of Chicago as disappointments, and also focuses on the role of Justice Clarence Thomas.

In a different commentary, Infill has something to say about the Shirley Sherrod controversy, making an interesting link to the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation process.

RR