White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race

The Latin term, amicus curiae, translates as “friend of the court.” Judges in prerequisite cases called on members of the bar who were not party to the cases for their input, underscoring the difficulties they had trying to define whiteness.

Case law refers to legal rules created by judicial decisions. Alongside statutory law or legislative enactments, case law created and enforced rules that shaped the racial makeup of the American population.

Critical race theory emerged in the mid-1970s in response to the erosion of civil rights and persisting racial inequities after the passing of civil rights laws. Early critical race theorists were Black legal scholars who questioned how ideas about race and ethnicity shape law and various other aspects of society, and vice versa. In addition to challenging dominant views of race, racism, and racial injustice, CRT focuses on the interconnections between race, gender, class, and ableness. Haney López engages CRT in his discussion of the socially constructed nature of race and his emphasis on the role of law in these processes.