Have the courts played a significant role in enforcing the civil rights of women and minority populations?
Absolutely. I don’t know where women and minorities would be without them. We’ve made tremendous progress through the courts. Are the civil rights laws expansive enough to protect the rights of the “new minorities,” such as Arab Americans, Muslims, and gays and lesbians? I don’t think we know yet, as far as the latter. I don’t see any fundamental changes to civil rights laws to broaden them in the near future. I think lawyers will work well with what we have. In 1987’s Hirabayashi v. The United States, you ruled that the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was unconstitutional. Why did it take 40 years before that case was ruled upon? The Supreme Court turned down Hirabayashi during the war. A researcher, Peter Irons, uncovered materials 40 years later that showed that there was no basis for any of the fears of the Japanese [Americans] that led to the internment. Historical research made that possible. Is there a pattern of delay in civil rights cases? The Japanese int
