Keynote Lectures.

Abstract

For many years, from Brown v. Board of Education (1954) to Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) minorities have looked to the Supreme Court to secure their equal rights and due process . Indeed, most civil rights breakthroughs start at the Supreme Court. Yet at the same time the reach of the Bill of Rights is always controversial on the court and among court watchers. And since the Supreme Court is the least dangerous branch (Hamilton), controlling neither the purse nor the sword, winning at the court may be a hollow victory for a minority, if it is not backed up by politics and society. The lecture will examine the civil rights discourses in front of the highest court of the land. Michael Dreyer is Professor for Political Theory and the History of Political Thought at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. He is especially interested in nineteenth and twentieth Century German and American history of thought and has widely researched the political system of the US, notably the role and impact of the Supreme Court. His special interest lies in how minorities have fared in the context of legal complaints and the manner in which the relationship between minority groups and the Supreme Court has evolved over time. Another of Dreyer’s fields of academic enquiry is the Weimar Republic, with a focus on its constitutional order and international impact. He recently published various articles on the US legal system in Handbuch Politik USA and is currently working on a monograph, Die Verfassung der USA. Ursprung, Entwicklung, Gegenwart, with Werner Kremp and Markus Lang. He has published several other books, most notably Hugo Preuß (1860-1925). Biographie eines Demokraten; Amerikaforschung in Deutschland. Themen und Institutionen der Politikwissenschaft nach 1945 (with Markus Kaim and Markus Lang); and Weimar als politische Kulturstadt. Ein historisch-politischer Stadtführer (with Klaus Dicke). His essays and articles include: „Obama und die dritte Gewalt: Eine verfrühte Bilanz?“ in Die USA am Ende der Präsidentschaft Barack Obamas; „Der Vizepräsident im Wahlkampf“ in Die US-Präsidentschaftswahl 2012; „Lincoln und ‘civil religion’: Bürgerkrieg, Verfassung und die Transformation des ‘American‘s Creed’“ in Lincoln und die Religion. Das Konzept der Nation unter Gott; „Queer Theory“ and „Minderheiten” in Politische Theorie und Politische Philosophie. Ein Handbuch; „Der Supreme Court und das Rechtssystem der USA in der deutschen Politikwissenschaft“ in Amerikaforschung in Deutschland. Themen und Institutionen der Politikwissenschaft nach 1945; “Minorities, Civil Rights, and Political Culture. Gay and Lesbian Rights in Germany and the United States” in Two Cultures of Rights: The Quest for Inclusion and Participation in Modern America and Germany; “Germany and the United States” in The New Germany. History, Economy, Policies; „Politische Erziehung durch politischen Prozess. Walter Bagehot, die „teaching function“ und die USA“ in Politik kulturell verstehen. Politische Kulturforschung in der Politikdidaktik; „Weimar als ‚wehrhafte Demokratie‘ – ein unterschätztes Vorbild“ in Die Weimarer Verfassung – Wert und Wirkung für die Demokratie; „Empty bottles no more. Parteien und Verfassung in den USA“ in Parteiendemokratie in der Bewährung; and „Gelobtes Land und Methodentempel? Die Rolle der USA in der deutschen Politikwissenschaft“ in Cultural Interactions. Fifty Years of American Studies in Germany.