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Their Accomplices Wore Robes

How the Supreme Court Chained Black America to the Bottom of a Racial Caste System

Author Brando Simeo Starkey
Hardcover
$37.00 US
| $50.00 CAN
Doubleday Publishing | Doubleday
On sale Jun 03, 2025 | 688 Pages | 9780385547383
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A magisterial new history of the role of the Supreme Court as an ally in implementing and preserving a racial caste system in America

Their Accomplices Wore Robes takes readers from the Civil War era to the present and describes how the Supreme Court—even more than the presidency or Congress—aligned with the enemies of Black progress to undermine the promise of the Constitution’s Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. 

The Reconstruction Amendments—which sought to abolish slavery, establish equal protection under the law, and protect voting rights—converted the Constitution into a potent anti-caste document. But in the years since, the Supreme Court has refused to allow the amendments to fulfill that promise. Time and again, when petitioned to make the nation’s founding conceit—that all men are created equal—real for Black Americans, the nine black robes have chosen white supremacy over racial fairness.

Their Accomplices Wore Robes brings to life dozens of cases and their rich casts of characters—petitioners, attorneys, justices—to explain how America arrived at this point and how society might arrive somewhere better, even as today’s federal courts lurch rightward. In this groundbreaking grand history, Brando Simeo Starkey reveals a troubling and dark aspect of American history.
"A searing indictment of judicially condoned—and even enshrined—racism in American law. . . . A powerfully argued study of a legal system that favors those who 'persevere in undermining Black freedom.'" —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Precisely outlines, within the historical context of the United States, how the Supreme Court has repeatedly and specifically denied or significantly delayed full rights of citizenship to Black people. . . . Starkey masterfully uses a unique blend of storytelling and legal documentation to share his declarations." —Library Journal (starred review)

“Their Accomplices Wore Robes is a stark, measured indictment of power dressed in principle. Brando Simeo Starkey lays bare the quiet, deliberate mechanisms by which the Supreme Court has upheld a racial caste system—not as an aberration but as a feature of its design. This is not a book about what we wish to believe about justice; it is a book about what justice, in practice, has too often been. Starkey writes with clarity and precision, refusing easy conclusions or consolations. The result is an indictment of a judicial system that must be fundamentally reformed or abolished if we're to have real democracy.” —Donovan X. Ramsey, author of When Crack Was King, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, longlisted for the National Book Award

“Starkey’s book is a passionate, deeply researched, humanistic story of how African Americans have evoked the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments as a bulwark against a racial caste system from the Jim Crow era to the present, and how their efforts have often been met with faulty reasoning, disavowals of reality, and obfuscation by a Supreme Court that has repeatedly shut its doors to their claims. Elegantly composed in a personal style that makes its stories come alive, this book is a book written to inspire reflection, disagreement, and argument – the kinds of things that are sorely needed in our own complex times.” —Kenneth W. Mack, Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law and Affiliate Professor of History, Harvard University
© Wendy Ferguson
BRANDO SIMEO STARKEY is a writer and scholar. A graduate of Harvard Law School and a member of the New York Bar, he taught law at Villanova Law School and wrote for several years for ESPN’s The Undefeated (now Andscape). Born and raised in Cincinnati, he lives in Southern California with his wife and two sons. He will launch a newsletter, The Braveverse, about law, politics, and freedom from caste, at the TheBraveverse.com, in January 2025. View titles by Brando Simeo Starkey

About

A magisterial new history of the role of the Supreme Court as an ally in implementing and preserving a racial caste system in America

Their Accomplices Wore Robes takes readers from the Civil War era to the present and describes how the Supreme Court—even more than the presidency or Congress—aligned with the enemies of Black progress to undermine the promise of the Constitution’s Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. 

The Reconstruction Amendments—which sought to abolish slavery, establish equal protection under the law, and protect voting rights—converted the Constitution into a potent anti-caste document. But in the years since, the Supreme Court has refused to allow the amendments to fulfill that promise. Time and again, when petitioned to make the nation’s founding conceit—that all men are created equal—real for Black Americans, the nine black robes have chosen white supremacy over racial fairness.

Their Accomplices Wore Robes brings to life dozens of cases and their rich casts of characters—petitioners, attorneys, justices—to explain how America arrived at this point and how society might arrive somewhere better, even as today’s federal courts lurch rightward. In this groundbreaking grand history, Brando Simeo Starkey reveals a troubling and dark aspect of American history.

Reviews

"A searing indictment of judicially condoned—and even enshrined—racism in American law. . . . A powerfully argued study of a legal system that favors those who 'persevere in undermining Black freedom.'" —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Precisely outlines, within the historical context of the United States, how the Supreme Court has repeatedly and specifically denied or significantly delayed full rights of citizenship to Black people. . . . Starkey masterfully uses a unique blend of storytelling and legal documentation to share his declarations." —Library Journal (starred review)

“Their Accomplices Wore Robes is a stark, measured indictment of power dressed in principle. Brando Simeo Starkey lays bare the quiet, deliberate mechanisms by which the Supreme Court has upheld a racial caste system—not as an aberration but as a feature of its design. This is not a book about what we wish to believe about justice; it is a book about what justice, in practice, has too often been. Starkey writes with clarity and precision, refusing easy conclusions or consolations. The result is an indictment of a judicial system that must be fundamentally reformed or abolished if we're to have real democracy.” —Donovan X. Ramsey, author of When Crack Was King, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, longlisted for the National Book Award

“Starkey’s book is a passionate, deeply researched, humanistic story of how African Americans have evoked the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments as a bulwark against a racial caste system from the Jim Crow era to the present, and how their efforts have often been met with faulty reasoning, disavowals of reality, and obfuscation by a Supreme Court that has repeatedly shut its doors to their claims. Elegantly composed in a personal style that makes its stories come alive, this book is a book written to inspire reflection, disagreement, and argument – the kinds of things that are sorely needed in our own complex times.” —Kenneth W. Mack, Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law and Affiliate Professor of History, Harvard University

Author

© Wendy Ferguson
BRANDO SIMEO STARKEY is a writer and scholar. A graduate of Harvard Law School and a member of the New York Bar, he taught law at Villanova Law School and wrote for several years for ESPN’s The Undefeated (now Andscape). Born and raised in Cincinnati, he lives in Southern California with his wife and two sons. He will launch a newsletter, The Braveverse, about law, politics, and freedom from caste, at the TheBraveverse.com, in January 2025. View titles by Brando Simeo Starkey

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