Lost Opportunities to Invoke the People's Narrative

The Confederate Narrative in Modern Doctrine (1883-2015)

Map 6 summarizes Parts III.A-D of the article ("Lost Opportunities: The Confederate Narrative in Modern Doctrine"). The map shows modern day Confederate narrative opinions. It also highlights lost opportunities where dissenters (in Boerne, Morrison (Brzonkala), NFIB, and Shelby County) or the majority (Obergefell) might have persuasively justified their theory of federalism by embracing the People’s narrative.

In chronological order, the cases giving rise to the Supreme Court opinions on the map are: United States v. Harris, 106 U.S. 629 (1883); Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 (1883); City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997); United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598 (2000); National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, 132 S.Ct. 2566 (2012); Shelby County, Ala v. Holder, 133 S.Ct. 2612 (2013); Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S.Ct. 254 (2015).