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Wenger on the Senate Apology for Slavery

By Lawrence Solum

Kaimipono David Wenger (Thomas Jefferson School of Law) has posted Apology Lite: Truths, Doubts, and Reconciliations in the Senate's Guarded Apology for Slavery (Connecticut Law Review CONNtemplations, Vol. 42, p. 1, 2009) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This Essay discusses the recent Senate apology for slavery, which contained an unusual disclaimer prohibiting its use in any claim for monetary reparations. The Essay discusses the role of apology within the slavery reparations debate generally and the question of whether a stand-alone apology can be a valid form of reparation. It examines the particular moral and symbolic effects of the Senate disclaimer and offers some suggestions for bolstering the apology and furthering the restorative justice goals of reparations through additional symbolic gestures, like official commemoration of Juneteenth.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on February 17, 2010 (boomark / email).