Welcome to Footnote 11, a blog located at the intersection of law and social science. My goal for this blog is to tackle issues in law and political science in a thought-provoking and evidence-driven way. I hope to write one post or so per week.
I believe introductions are in order. My name is William Blake, and I am a graduate student in the Government Department at the University of Texas at Austin. It should come as no surprise that my concentration is in public law. You can read more about me at my website.
The name of this blog comes from Footnote 11 of the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, decided in 1954. The footnote references several psychology and sociology studies as evidence that racially separate schools impeded the cognitive and emotional development of black students. Chief Justice Earl Warren has been criticized for basing so much of his opinion on these studies, but as a future social scientist, I vehemently disagree. Judges are, to a certain extent, policymakers, and it would behoove judges to consider objective social science evidence to understand more fully the implications of their decisions.
More information about Footnote 11 is available on the About page.
Footnote 11: Law and Social Science 