For DC-area readers who may be interested, this Friday the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation are co-sponsoring a debate on Fisher v. University of Texas, an important affirmative action case that the Supreme Court is now deciding whether or not to take.
The debate pits James Ho, counsel for the University of Texas in the case, and Loren Alikhan, counsel for the League of United Latin American Citizens (arguing for the University’s position) against Gail Heriot of the US Commission on Civil Rights and Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity (arguing that the university’s plan is unconstitutional).
I previously blogged about Fisher here and here.
Interestingly, I have some connections to both sides in this debate. My wife is Gail Heriot’s special assistant/counsel at the US Commission on Civil Rights. Jim Ho (who later went on to become Texas’ state solicitor general) clerked for Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith two years before I did, and interviewed me for the job before I was hired.