Law: Chipping Away at Civil Rights

With two key rulings, the court confirms its rightward shift

One of Ronald Reagan's main goals as President was to put his conservative stamp on the federal judiciary. His success on that score was dazzling. Thanks to the large number of openings that occurred during his two terms in the White House, Reagan was able to appoint 346 federal judges -- more than any other President in American history. "It is one of his most enduring legacies, and one of his most significant," says William Bradford Reynolds, the controversial former Assistant Attorney General for civil rights in the Reagan Administration.

Nowhere has that legacy been more apparent than in the makeup...

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