Legal and Cultural Commentator

John Burleigh

2 articles 2010–2015

John Burleigh contributed to The Weekly Standard between 2010 and 2015, writing on legal and cultural topics. His pieces included commentary on Supreme Court history and political correctness in cultural institutions.

P.C. at the Met

August 24, 2015 · Literature, John F. Burleigh, Shakespeare

A recent headline in the New York Times announced: “Metropolitan Opera Says Its ‘Otello’ Tenor Will Not Wear Blackface.” Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Met, made clear that the decision not to use any dark makeup on its white tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko in the Met’s new production of Verdi’s…

Former Supreme Court Justice Souter DefendsPlessyv.Ferguson

July 14, 2010 · John F. Burleigh, Blog, Abram N. Shulsky

If someone whom a Republican president had appointed to a high government position were to give a speech defending the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld racial segregation under the heading of “separate but equal,” one would expect a political firestorm.  Yet when just…