White Cartels, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the History of Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co.

Abstract

To commemorate the fortieth anniversary of Jones, this piece does three things. First, it explains how Congress' exercise of Thirteenth Amendment power to govern private economic relationships during Reconstruction gave important, but unacknowledged, intellectual credence to the antitrust movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Second, it explores the human story behind Jones, tracking the narrative of the Joneses, their counsel, the judges, and their lives after the decision. Finally, it explains how Jones' recognition of the interrelationship between public and private coercion can help scholars, lawmakers, and jurists define the contours of Thirteenth Amendment power.

Keywords: economics, antitrust, discrimination, racial, Jones, Mayer, Civil Rights Act of 1866, law and economics, Blackmun, Stewart, section 1982, section 1981, section 1983, civil rights