BU Today: How did you learn about this case?
Jack Beermann: I was reading a scholarly article on the legitimacy of Southern state governments where white supremacists took control by force after Reconstruction. There was a footnote to
Hall v. Decuir, indicating that the Supreme Court had prevented Louisiana from enforcing its anti-discrimination law. Since I study civil rights decisions from that period, I was surprised that I had never heard of the decision and was skeptical that the Court would have done that. So I went online and read the case, which confirmed what the author had said about it, and then my curiosity got the better of me.