Bahnson and Shreve on Legal Treatises and the Evolution of Civil Rights Case Law @DukeLawLibrary @DukeLaw

Jane Bahnson and Wickliffe Shreve, both of Duke University School of Law, have published Legal Treatises and the Evolution of Civil Rights Case Law as Duke Law School Public Law & Legal Theory Series No. 2023-68. Here is the abstract.

During the 2022 term, the Supreme Court cited treatises to change legal precedent in two important civil rights cases. We examined the Supreme Court’s use of treatises in previous terms to reverse course on civil rights. Of 315 opinions identified, approximately half included treatise citations, more often by conservative-leaning Justices. This paper discusses the use of treatises by the Supreme Court to support its decisions in civil rights cases.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.