What is the role of the United States Supreme Court? What is “settled law”? And how does the Supreme Court attempt to rectify its wrongs? These questions and more were at stake when the Supreme Court issued its unanimous opinion in Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954. In Brown, the Supreme Court finally acknowledged the moral evil and legal fiction that was state-sanctioned segregation of the races. To get to that critical decision, the Supreme Court had to reverse itself on a prior ruling that had guided the nation for more than 50 years, Plessy v. Ferguson. The Court’s courage in reversing its precedent and in charting a new course offers a heartening beacon of light, illuminating the path that could reverse erroneous Court precedent set in Roe v. Wade. Steve Aden, Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel at Americans United for Life joins Clarke Forsythe, Senior Counsel, and Noah Brandt on “Life, Liberty, and Law”.
