Episodi

  • Loving Day, The Warren Court, The rights they want to erase

    Loving Day, The Warren Court, The rights they want to erase
    Jun 12 2025

    In this episode of Ellis Conversations, co-host Jamil Ellis sits down again with his father, retired federal magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis, to mark Loving Day — the anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 Supreme Court case that struck down bans on interracial marriage.

    What starts as a reflection on Loving Day quickly becomes a powerful and wide-ranging discussion about:

    • How distorted historical narratives fuel today's rollback of civil rights
    • Why anti-DEI forces rely on historical erasure
    • The forgotten legal barriers against women
    • The dangerous nostalgia embedded in the "Make America Great Again" slogan
    • A look at Project 2025, the Federalist Society, and how today's Supreme Court is targeting many of the Warren Court's civil rights decisions

    From All in the Family to Sidney Poitier, from welfare state debates to voting rights, Judge Ellis breaks down the legal and cultural legacy at stake.

    Relevant Links & Resources:

    • Loving v. Virginia (1967)
      https://www.oyez.org/cases/1966/395

    • Warren Court Key Decisions
      Brown v. Board (1954): https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483
      Gideon v. Wainwright (1963): https://www.oyez.org/cases/1962/155
      Miranda v. Arizona (1966): https://www.oyez.org/cases/1965/759
      Griswold v. Connecticut (1965): https://www.oyez.org/cases/1964/496
      Engel v. Vitale (1962): https://www.oyez.org/cases/1961/468
      Tinker v. Des Moines (1969): https://www.oyez.org/cases/1968/21

    • Project 2025: https://www.project2025.org

    • Federalist Society: https://fedsoc.org

    • All In The Family theme reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_in_the_Family
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    31 min
  • Deliberate, But No Speed: How Supreme Court rulings have allowed public schools to remain segregated seventy years after Brown v. Board.

    Deliberate, But No Speed: How Supreme Court rulings have allowed public schools to remain segregated seventy years after Brown v. Board.
    May 30 2025

    The hosts discuss how desegregation under Brown was hampered in schools by a policy of "all deliberate speed" where the speed was often zero. In contrast, and despite the fact that in large portions of the nation education is separate and unequal, the Trump administration has begun an "all speed ahead" policy of eliminating decrees which contained desegregation requirements'.

    https://www.axios.com/2025/05/02/doj-decades-old-school-desegregation-louisiana

    In this episode of Ellis Conversations, co-host Jamil Ellis and his father, retired federal magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis, reflect on the 71st anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education—not just the 1954 decision, but its overlooked 1955 follow-up. They explore the legal and societal impacts of desegregation mandates, the resistance that followed, and how today's rollback of civil rights enforcement—particularly around school desegregation—echoes familiar patterns.

    With real-life stories, including Ruby Bridges and Prince Edward County's school closures, the conversation traces decades of policy evolution—from Milliken v. Bradley to Roberts Court rulings that undermine systemic remedies for segregation. The episode also offers generational perspectives on optimism, protest, and the need for youth leadership in safeguarding educational equity.

    👉 If you're concerned about the dismantling of civil rights protections in education and policing—or wondering how to equip young people to carry the legacy forward—this one's for you.

    🔗 Relevant Links & References:

    • Brown v. Board of Education (1954 & 1955 decisions)
      https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483
      https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/349us294

    • Milliken v. Bradley (1974)
      https://www.oyez.org/cases/1973/73-434

    • Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007)
      https://www.oyez.org/cases/2006/05-908

    • Ruby Bridges Foundation
      https://rubybridges.foundation

    • Shelby County v. Holder (2013 Voting Rights Act decision)
      https://www.oyez.org/cases/2012/12-96

    • American Psychological Association – Implicit Bias
      https://www.apa.org/ed/university/implicit-bias

    • The Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025" (mentioned indirectly)
      https://www.project2025.org
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    28 min
  • The Company Trump Keeps: From David Duke to The Proud Boys to Project 2025 – Intended Consequences

    The Company Trump Keeps: From David Duke to The Proud Boys to Project 2025 – Intended Consequences
    Jul 11 2024

    In this episode, the hosts discuss Project 2025 and its potential impact in a Donald Trump administration.

    Heritage Foundation and Trump https://www.heritage.org/impact/trump-administration-embraces-heritage-foundation-policy-recommendations Biden's Judicial Appointments https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/12/04/most-of-bidens-appointed-judges-to-date-are-women-racial-or-ethnic-minorities-a-first-for-any-president/ Trump bankruptcies https://bankruptcy-toledo.com/fact-checking-donald-trump-has-filed-bankruptcy-six-times/ The Nation on the Heirtage Foundation Project 2025 https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/will-the-heritage-foundations-project-2025-turn-trumpism-into-a-governing-agenda/ Trump Administration people at Heritage https://www.heritage.org/impact/four-trump-cabinet-members-now-call-heritage-home Trump on baby Tiffany's body. https://youtu.be/nqVgmwkX7oA Platforms Republican 2016 platform - https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2016-republican-party-platform Democrat 2020 platform - https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2020-democratic-party-platform Related episodes Voting is a Fundamental Right: Exercise It; You'll Make It Stronger The Hands That Rock The Cradle: Donald Trump, the Supreme Court, and the Federalist Society.
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    26 min
  • Voting is a Fundamental Right: Exercise It; You'll Make It Stronger

    Voting is a Fundamental Right: Exercise It; You'll Make It Stronger
    Jun 26 2024

    In this episode, the hosts begin a series of discussions on the historical significance of voting, efforts to prevent some groups from voting, and why you should exercise your right to vote even if you don't like the choices. Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.

    Southern Strategy - In American politics, the Southern strategy was a Republican Party electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans.

    Voter ID by State https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_state Student ID to Vote https://www.campusvoteproject.org/student-id-as-voter-id

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    22 min
  • States Rights, Legal Wrongs: A Recurring Page from the Segregationist Playbook

    States Rights, Legal Wrongs: A Recurring Page from the Segregationist Playbook
    Feb 12 2024
    In this episode, the hosts discuss the history of invoking some form of States' Rights theory to limit the efforts of the federal government to expand or protect the rights of persons within the United States Southern Manifesto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Manifesto Mississippi State Sovereign Commission https://web.archive.org/web/20191205182453/http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/index.php?id=243 https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/nullification/#:~:text=The%20crisis%2C%20which%20began%20as,and%20secede%20from%20the%20Union. "Calhoun's justification of nullification and secession as constitutional rights of the state also went beyond traditional states' rights doctrine as they were based on an unprecedented notion of absolute state sovereignty. Most old states' righters, including James Madison, condemned nullification as an extraconstitutional and un-republican theory as it was not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution and because it subverted the cardinal principle of republican government, majority rule." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina_Declaration_of_Secession#:~:text=The%20South%20Carolina%20Declaration%20of,for%20seceding%20from%20the%20United "A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/setting-the-precedent-mendez-et-al-v-westminster-school-district-of-orange-county-et-al-and-the-us-courthouse-and-post-office.htm#:~:text=Mendez%2C%20et%20al.-,v.,school%20segregation%20across%20the%20state. "Before Brown, et al., v. Board of Education., et al., made racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, there was Mendez, et al. v. Westminster School District of Orange County, et al. This 1946 class-action lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of separate schools for Mexican American students in Southern California and eventually helped end public school segregation across the state." https://mississippitoday.org/2024/01/14/on-this-day-in-1963-alabama-gov-georg-wallace-said-segregation-forever/ (Jan 14, 1963) "On the same portico of the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederacy, Alabama Gov. George Wallace delivered his inaugural address, telling the crowd, "In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" Asa Carter, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, wrote his speech, which made national headlines and thrust Wallace into the national spotlight." https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety "I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of 'interposition' and 'nullification' — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality
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    19 min
  • Claudine Gay: The Latest Victim in the Debate over DEI, Affirmative Action, and Meritocracy

    Claudine Gay: The Latest Victim in the Debate over DEI, Affirmative Action, and Meritocracy
    Jan 8 2024

    In this episode, the hosts discuss the controversy concerning the Resignation of Harvard president Claudine Gay.Is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion undermining merit or does it address a history of Discrimination, Exclusion, and Inequality.

    Claudine Gay's Resignation

    The Claudine Gay Debacle Was Never about Merit

    Claudine Gay and the Limits of Social Engineering at Harvard

    Biden to Appeal to Black Voters in Campaign Trip to Charleston, SC
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    20 min
  • From Jamestown to Charlottesville: Virginia and America's racial divide

    From Jamestown to Charlottesville: Virginia and America's racial divide
    Dec 22 2023

    In this episode, the hosts discuss the leading role that Virginia has played in the racial divide in America's history. Home to the Founding Fathers and Capital of the Confederacy, the state has been the crucible of the ideals which built this country and the ideas which would tear it apart.

    Washington, DC History

    https://washington.org/DC-information/washington-dc-history

    Virginia 1619

    https://time.com/5653369/august-1619-jamestown-history/

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/02/06/virginia-is-birthplace-american-slavery-segregation-it-still-cant-escape-that-legacy/

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Virginia_political_crisis.

    https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/873

    https://www.brookings.edu/articles/when-white-supremacy-came-to-virginia/

    https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/an-act-concerning-servants-and-slaves-1705/

    https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/10-facts-founding-fathers

    https://www.monticello.org/exhibits-events/livestreams-videos-and-podcasts/enslaved-on-grounds-slavery-at-the-university-of-virginia/#:~:text=From%20Thomas%20Jefferson's%20founding%20of,nation's%20most%20prestigious%20public%20universities

    Florida Episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/black-history-never-equal-never-protected-first-stop/id1485019282?i=1000623777868

    Indiana Episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/black-history-never-equal-never-protected-up-north/id1485019282?i=1000627180421

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    26 min
  • Holding the Line: Sandra Day O'Connor's legacy of bringing stability to the Supreme Court by protecting its established precedents.

    Holding the Line: Sandra Day O'Connor's legacy of bringing stability to the Supreme Court by protecting its established precedents.
    Dec 6 2023

    In this episode, the hosts discuss Justice O'Connor's role as the "swing vote" as the Court addressed major fault lines in our society on issues such as abortion, affirmative action, and gender equality.

    Planned Parenthood v. Casey

    https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/505/833/

    Grutter v. Bollinger

    https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/306/
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    18 min