Research Guides: 2024 Richard J. Childress Memorial Lecture: The Future of Constitutional Interpretation: Anders Walker

Anders Walker

Lillie Myers Professor of Law

Professor of History

Saint Louis University School of Law

Professor Walker’s research and teaching focus on intersections between constitutional law, criminal law, and legal history.

Professor Walker's articles have appeared or are forthcoming in the Columbia Law Review, the Washington University Law Review, the Wisconsin Law Review, the Hastings Law Journal, and the Florida State University Law Review.

His book The Ghost of Jim Crow: How Southern Moderates Used Brown v. Board of Education to Stall Civil Rights was published by Oxford University Press in 2009. His book The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern America was published by Yale University Press in 2018.

Professor Walker won the 2010 Law & Society Association Article Prize, the 2009 AALS Criminal Justice Section Junior Scholar Award, and was voted Teacher of the Year for 2019, 2018, 2017, 2011 and 2009.

Complicated Continent: Pekka Hamalainen and the History of Native America, by Anders Walker
2023 JOTWELL: J. THINGS WE LIKE 1 (October 2023)
"Was Every Prisoner a Loyal American?": The Startling Tale of the Hated Cage, by Anders Walker
2022 JOTWELL: J. THINGS WE LIKE 1 (October 2022)
When Private Equity Serves the Public Good: Woody Holton's "Capitalist Constitution", by Anders Walker
2021 JOTWELL: J. THINGS WE LIKE 1 (November 2021)
[Dis]Integration: Second-Order Diversity and Schools, by Anders Walker
109 GEO. L.J. ONLINE 21 (2020-2021)
St. Louis Matters! Walter Johnson Revisits the 27th City, by Anders Walker
2020 JOTWELL: J. THINGS WE LIKE 1 (October 2020)
Beyond Integration: Forward through Ferguson/Backward through Brown, by Anders Walker
63 ST. LOUIS U. L.J. 565 (Summer 2019)
Freedom and Prison: Putting Structuralism Back into Structural Inequality, by Anders Walker
57 U. LOUISVILLE L. REV. 89 (Fall 2018)
Heil Jim Crow?, by Anders Walker
2018 JOTWELL: J. THINGS WE LIKE 1 (March 2018)
Fundamental Frames: How Cultural Frames Inform the Fourteenth Amendment, by Anders Walker
62 ST. LOUIS U. L.J. 569 (Spring 2018)
Did Black Baptists Join the War on Drugs?, by Anders Walker
2018 JOTWELL: J. THINGS WE LIKE 1 (September 2018)
New Takes on Jim Crow: A Review of Recent Scholarship, by Anders Walker
36 LAW & HIST. REV. 173 (February 2018)
The Taming of Free Speech: America's Civil Liberties Compromise, by Anders Walker
57 AM. J. LEGAL HIST. 389 (September 2017)
Jim Crow's Unwritten Code, by Anders Walker
2017 JOTWELL: J. THINGS WE LIKE [1] (January 2017)
A Lawyer Looks at Civil Disobedience: Why Lewis F. Powell Jr. Divorced Diversity from Affirmative Action, by Anders Walker
86 U. COLO. L. REV. 1229 (2015)
The New Civil War, by Anders Walker
34 ST. LOUIS U. PUB. L. REV. 239 (2015).
To Corral and Control the Ghetto: Stop, Frisk, and the Geography of Freedom,by Anders Walker
48 U. RICH. L. REV. 1223 (May 2014)
The New Jim Crow - Recovering the Progressive Origins of Mass Incarceration, by Anders Walker
41 HASTINGS CONST. L.Q. 845 (Summer 2014)
Bramble Bush Revisited: Llewellyn, the Great Depression and the First Law School Crisis, 19229-1939, by Anders Walker
64 J. LEGAL EDUC. 145 (2014)
House to House: Mergers, Annexations & the Racial Implications of City-County Politics in St. Louis, by Anders Walker
34 ST. LOUIS U. PUB. L. REV. 127 (2014)
Criminal Confusion: Addressing the Tension between Bar Preparation & Practical Skills, by Anders Walker
10 OHIO ST. J. CRIM. L. 669 (Spring 2013)
Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement, by Anders Walker
31 LAW & HIST. REV. 641 (August 2013)
Strange Traffic: Sex, Slavery, and the Freedom Principle, by Anders Walker
46 CONN. L. REV. 561 (December 2013)
The Infinite Citation, by Miriam A. Cherry & Anders Walker,
2 J. L. 493 (2012)
Horrible Fascination: Segregation, Obscenity & the Cultural Contingency of Rights, by Anders Walker
89 WASH. U. L. REV. 1017 (2012)
The Color of America Has Changed: How Racial Diversity Shaped Civil Rights Reform in California, 1941-1978, by Anders Walker
30 LAW & HIST. REV. 286 (February 2012)
When Gangs Were White: Race, Rights, and Youth Crime in New York City, 1954-1964, by Anders Walker
55 ST. LOUIS U. L.J. 1369 (Summer 2011)
Shotguns, Weddings, and Lunch Counters: Why Cultural Frames Matter to Constitutional Law, by Anders Walker
38 FLA. ST. U. L. REV. 345 (Winter 2011)
The New Common Law: Courts, Culture, and the Localization of the Model Panel Code, by Anders Walker
62 HASTINGS L.J. 1633 (2010-2011)
Blackboard Jungle: Delinquency, Desegregation, and the Cultural Politics of Brown, by Anders Walker
110 COLUM. L. REV. 1911 (November 2010)
William J. Cuddihy, The Fourth Amendment: Origins and Original Meaning, by Anders Walker
28 LAW & HIST. REV. 859 (August 2010)
Diversity's Strange Career: Recovering the Racial Pluralism of Lewis F. Powell, Jr., by Anders Walker
50 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 647 (2010)
Powers Unusual: Brown v. Board of Education and the Modernization of Law Enforcement in Florida, by Anders Walker
2 FED. HIST. 1 (2010)
American Oresteia: Herbert Wechsler, the Model Penal Code, and the Uses of Revenge, by Anders Walker
2009 WIS. L. REV. 1017 (2009)
From Ballots to Bullets: District of Columbia v. Heller and the New Civil Rights, by Anders Walker
69 LA. L. REV. 509 (Spring 2009)
Neutral Principles: Rethinking the Legal History of Civil Rights, 1934-1964, by Anders Walker
40 LOY. U. CHI. L.J. 385 (Spring 2009)
The Violent Bear It Away: Emmett Till and the Modernization of Law Enforcement in Mississippi, by Anders Walker
46 SAN DIEGO L. REV. 459 (May-June 2009)
Response to Readers of the Anti-Case Method: Herbert Wechsler and the Political History of the Criminal Law Course, by Anders Walker
7 OHIO ST. J. CRIM. L. 303 (Fall 2009)
The Anti-Case Method: Herbert Wechsler and the Political History of the Criminal Law Course, by Anders Walker
7 OHIO ST. J. CRIM. L. 217 (Fall 2009)
Things Cannot Go on as They Are: Contextualizing Herbert Wechsler's Critique of the School Segregation Cases, by Anders Walker
52 ST. LOUIS U. L.J. 1211 (Summer 2008)
Raising the Bar: Brown and the Transformation of the Southern Judiciary, by Anders Walker
48 ST. LOUIS U. L.J. 1037 (Spring 2004)
James T. Patterson, Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy, by Anders Walker
21 LAW & HIST. REV. 433 (Summer 2003)
Legislating Virtue: How Segregationists Disguised Racial Discrimination as Moral Reform Following Brown v. Board of Education, by Anders Walker
47 DUKE L.J. 399 (November 1997)

For more works by Professor Anders Walker, please visit his SSRN page.

The burning house : Jim Crow and the making of modern America by Anders Walker
Call Number: E185.61 .W169 2018 c.2
ISBN: 9780300223989
Publication Date: 2018
"In this dramatic reexamination of the Jim Crow South, Anders Walker demonstrates that racial segregation fostered not simply terror and violence, but also diversity, one of our most celebrated ideals. He investigates how prominent intellectuals like Robert Penn Warren, James Baldwin, Eudora Welty, Ralph Ellison, Flannery O'Connor, and Zora Neale Hurston found pluralism in Jim Crow, a legal system that created two worlds, each with its own institutions, traditions, even cultures. The intellectuals discussed in this book all agreed that black culture was resilient, creative, and profound, brutally honest in its assessment of American history. By contrast, James Baldwin likened White culture to a "burning house," a frightening place that endorsed racism and violence to maintain dominance. Why should Black Americans exchange their experience for that? Southern whites, meanwhile, saw themselves preserving a rich cultural landscape against the onslaught of mass culture and federal power, a project carried to the highest levels of American law by Supreme Court justice and Virginia native Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Anders Walker shows how a generation of scholars and judges has misinterpreted Powell's definition of diversity in the landmark case Regents v. Bakke, forgetting its Southern origins and weakening it in the process. By resituating the decision in the context of Southern intellectual history, Walker places diversity on a new footing, independent of affirmative action but also free from the constraints currently placed on it by the Supreme Court. With great clarity and insight, he offers a new lens through which to understand the history of civil rights in the United States"--Publisher's description
The ghost of Jim Crow : how southern moderates used Brown v. Board of Education to stall civil rights by Anders Walker
Call Number: E185.61 .W17 2009
ISBN: 9780195181746
Publication Date: 2009
In "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King, Jr. asserted that "the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice." To date, our understanding of the Civil Rights era has been largely defined by high-profile public events such as the crisis at Little Rock high school, bus boycotts, and sit-ins-incidents that were met with massive resistance and brutality. The resistance of Southern moderates to racial integration was much less public and highly insidious, with far-reaching effects. The Ghost of Jim Crow draws long-overdue attention to the moderate tactics that stalled the progress of racial equality in the South. Anders Walker explores how three moderate Southern governors formulated masked resistance in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education. J. P. Coleman in Mississippi, Luther Hodges in North Carolina, and LeRoy Collins in Florida each developed workable, lasting strategies to neutralize black political activists and control white extremists. Believing it possible to reinterpret Brown on their own terms, these governors drew on creative legal solutions that allowed them to perpetuate segregation without overtly defying the federal government. Hodges, Collins, and Coleman instituted seemingly neutral criteria--academic, economic, and moral--in place of racial classifications, thereby laying the foundations for a new way of rationalizing racial inequality. Rather than focus on legal repression, they endorsed cultural pluralism and uplift, claiming that black culture was unique and should be preserved, free from white interference. Meanwhile, they invalidated common law marriages and cut state benefits to unwed mothers, then judged black families for having low moral standards. They expanded the jurisdiction of state police and established agencies like the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission to control unrest. They hired black informants, bribed black leaders, and dramatically expanded the reach of the state into private life. Through these tactics, they hoped to avoid violent Civil Rights protests that would draw negative attention to their states and confirm national opinions of the South as backward. By crafting positive images of their states as tranquil and free of racial unrest, they hoped to attract investment and expand southern economic development. In reward for their work, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson appointed them to positions in the federal government, defying notions that Republicans were the only party to absorb southern segregationists and stall civil rights. An eye-opening approach to law and politics in the Civil Rights era, The Ghost of Jim Crow looks beyond extremism to highlight some of the subversive tactics that prolonged racial inequality. source: Oxford Academic website
The intersection of rights and regulation : new directions in sociolegal scholarship by edited by Bronwen Morgan
Call Number: K3240 .I59 2007
ISBN: 9780754649823
Publication Date: 2007
This volume examines the questions that are raised by directly considering the intersection of rights and regulation, both in terms of how they interact in particular policy areas and in terms of the different scholarly approaches to their study. Bringing together a range of fresh perspectives on socio-legal scholarship from a variety of disciplines, The Intersection of Rights and Regulations will have worldwide interdisciplinary appeal.

Chapter Author: Doing good business or just doing good : competing human rights frameworks at the World Bank by Anders Walker

For more works by Professor Anders Walker, please visit his SSRN page.

SLU LAW Summations

Executive, Powers, Immunity, and other Implications from this SCOTUS Session - Professor Anders Walker

In a watershed ruling regarding executive powers, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Trump v United States that presidents should be immune from prosecution for official actions they took while in office. While historically presidents have enjoyed some level of immunity, this ruling expands that greatly. To discuss this monumental ruling and the implications for the future of the presidency, we are joined by Professor Anders Walker. Professor Walker is an expert in constitutional law and American legal history.

KSDK News | Jul 1, 2024

How SCOTUS Ruling on Trump Immunity Could Shape the Race for President

"Former President Donald Trump is celebrating a victory at the Supreme Court. Justices granted presidents immunity for all official acts taken in office and made it harder to convict presidents for private acts."

source: YouTube online database

SLU LAW Summations

The New Age of Voting Rights in the United States - Professor Anders Walker

Earlier this year, the United States Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in the voting rights case of Allen v Milligan. To the surprise of voting rights advocates across the country, the Court decided that the Alabama’s redistricting plan violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Just today, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the decision, handing a defeat to Alabama Republicans for the second time in three months. The case concerns the redistricting of Alabama’s seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The challengers argued that when drawing the map, the state had illegally packed Black voters into a single district, minimizing the number of districts in which Black voters can elect their chosen candidates. We have Professor Anders Walker here to talk through this case with us. Professor Walker teaches Constitutional Law and American Legal History among other courses. For this episode, assistant producer Edna Besic, a 3L at SLU LAW, will join as a co-host.

KSDK News | December 6, 2022

SLU Law Professor Weighs in on Former St. Louis Aldermen Bribery Case

"It looks like the U.S. Attorney's Office is really cleaning up politics in St. Louis City and St. Louis County," Anders Walker said.

source: YouTube online database

St. Louis Public Radio (KWMU) | May 1, 2024

Wednesday, April 19, 2023 - Examining ‘Stand Your Ground’ in Missouri

The shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City is bringing more attention to laws allowing someone to use deadly force if they feel threatened in their home. Saint Louis University Law School professor Anders Walker discusses whether they apply in this case.

source: YouTube online database

KSDK News | May 16, 2023

After Kim Gardner Resigned, What's Next for St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office?

Kim Gardner resigned her position as St. Louis' circuit attorney today. 5 On Your Side crime and courts reporter Christine Byers is joined by retired federal Judge Nannette Baker and Saint Louis University law professor Anders Walker to discuss what's next for the office.

source: YouTube online database

KSDK News | April 20, 2023

The Record with Mark Maxwell (April 20, 2023)

5 On Your Side political editor Mark Maxwell is joined by political newsmakers to discuss the stories making headlines in Missouri and Illinois.

This week's guests include Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri; Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois; and St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Megan Green.

Also, Saint Louis University law professor Anders Walker looks at the quo warranto lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey against St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner seeking her removal from office.

source: YouTube online database

Mark Milton | September 5, 2020

Segment #1: Guest co-hosts Doug Vaughn and Professor Anders Walker Discuss Lockdowns

Milty is joined by guest co-hosts Doug Vaughn and Professor Anders Walker, a centrist Constitutional and Criminal Law professor at Saint Louis University School of Law, to discuss the impacts of the pandemic-induced lockdowns.

source: YouTube online database

Mark Milton | September 25, 2020

18 - Segment 1: RBG’s Legacy and the SCOTUS Future

Professor Anders Walker discusses RGB’s legacy, the history of the Supreme Court nomination/confirmation process, whether the Republicans will replace RGB before the election, and the future of the SCOTUS.

source: YouTube online database

Mark Milton | September 25, 2020

18 - Segment 2: Civil Unrest in Louisville

Professor Anders Walker discusses the tragic police shooting of Breonna Taylor, the lack of a murder indictment, civil unrest in Louisville, and an update on the Kenosha shooting.

source: YouTube online database

MDAHVideo | December 13, 2019

History Is Lunch: Anders Walker, "The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern America"

On July 25, 2018, Anders Walker presented "The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern America" as part of the History Is Lunch series.

Walker's book of the same name is a reexamination of the Jim Crow era as seen through the eyes of some of the country’s most important writers. Walker, a professor of history and law at St. Louis University, demonstrates that racial segregation fostered terror and violence, but also diversity. He investigates how prominent intellectuals like Robert Penn Warren, James Baldwin, Eudora Welty, Ralph Ellison, Flannery O’Connor, and Zora Neale Hurston found pluralism in Jim Crow, a legal system that created two worlds, each with its own institutions, traditions, even cultures.

“These intellectuals all agreed that black culture was resilient, creative, and profound,” Walker said. “By contrast, James Baldwin likened white culture to a ‘burning house,’ a frightening place that endorsed racism and violence to maintain dominance. Why should black Americans exchange their experience for that?”

Thadious M. Davis, author of Southscapes: Geographies of Race, Region, and Literature, said that Walker “expertly pairs interpretive literary and judicial discourses on segregation, integration, assimilation, and pluralism in order to understand the responses southern white writers, such as Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Robert Penn Warren, posed to Brown v. Board of Education and the waning days of legal segregation in the U.S., particularly in the American South.”

Anders Walker teaches law and history at Saint Louis University and is the author of The Ghost of Jim Crow: How Southern Moderates Used Brown v. Board of Education to Stall Civil Rights.

source: YouTube online database

Duke University School of Law | April 17, 2019

Anders Walker '98 | The Burning House: National Library Week Celebration

The 2019 National Library Week Alumni Author event featured Anders Walker (JD/MA 1998), Lillie Myers Professor of Law at St. Louis University School of Law. In his new book, The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern America (2018), he presents a dramatic reexamination of the Jim Crow South from the perspectives of some of the most important American intellectuals, and explores their lasting impact on U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence.

With an introduction by James Coleman Jr.

source: YouTube online database

550 KTRS-TV | February 27, 2014

SLU Law To Host City/County Merger Symposium

SLU Law Professor Anders Walker joins The McGraw Show

source: YouTube online database

For more works by Professor Anders Walker, please visit his SSRN page.