Race in America 2021: A Time to Embrace Beauharnais v. Illinois?

Hate crimes and racially motivated violence spiked in the United States over the past few years. Our foreign adversaries seek to inflame racial divisions in our nation and turn American against American. This now forms a major threat to our national security and domestic tranquility. Indeed, in light of the attempted insurrection of January 6, 2021, the costs of our festering racial hierarchy now threaten our constitutional republic.

The soaring costs of the American racial hierarchy now demands aggressive legal response. This Essay demonstrates that the process of racial formation undergirding the hierarchy relies upon group libel to propagate racial mythology. Consequently, the Supreme Court should continue to permit states to proscribe group libel and governments should expand group libel sanctions to include private actions for victims of group libel.