The often kind and always interesting comments of Larry Griffin, David James, andBradley Palmquist touch different aspects of ColorblindInjustice. Let me respond to them, in effect, in chronologicalorder, according to which periods of history illuminate the comments the most.Palmquist points out that institutions like the Supreme Court may suddenlyreverse their decisions, as the Court did in the !“switch in time thatsaved nine” after FDR had proposed to pack the body in 1937, or as itover-turned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) in Brown v. Boardof Education (1954). But as the Brown examplesuggests, it often takes a long time to overturn precedents, and that is thecase with minority voting rights, as well. It was 25 years after RichardNixon’s “southern strategy,” 24 years after Earl Warrenceased to be Chief Justice, and 23 years after Nixon proposed to water down theVoting Rights Act before the overwhelmingly Republican Supreme Court dared toseriously undermine African American and Latino political rights. Even then,they hesitated to attack the Voting Rights Act itself directly. Majorinstitutions are tough in two senses: their policies often have large impacts,and the institutions, including those as tiny as the nine-member Supreme Court,are difficult to change.