I understand that Elizabeth Warren claims to have inspired the Occupy movement. In that spirit, it’s worth noting that when the 99% living in the Boston area claim minority status for employment purposes based on family lore, an old photograph, and other dubious bases, they get fired. When the 1% do it, they get a […]
Archive | Affirmative Action
Elizabeth Warren and Fisher v. University of Texas
At least one point of interest having nothing to do with Warren herself has arisen from the controversy over Massachusetts Senate candidate’s Elizabeth Warren’s dubious self-identification as “Native American”, and whether she so self-identified to position herself to be a beneficiary of affirmative action. One of Warren’s defenders, a law professor at the University of […]
Texas Taps Mahoney
The University of Texas at Austin has retained Latham & Watkins to defend its affirmative action policy before the U.S. Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas. The team of attorneys on the case includes former Solicitor General Greg Garre and former Deputy Solicitor General Maureen Mahoney. It’s hard to think of a legal team […]
Ninth Circuit Rejects Constitutional Challenge to California’s Anti-Race/Sex-Preferences Initiative (Prop. 209)
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action v. Brown (9th Cir. Apr. 2, 2012) has just rejected a constitutional challenge to California’s ban on race and sex preferences and discrimination in public employment, education, and contracting; the panel followed as binding precedent Coalition for Economic Equality v. Wilson (9th Cir. 1997), which rejected a similar challenge, and […]
Prof. Rick Sander Guest-Blogging
I’m delighted to report that my colleague Rick Sander will be guest-blogging in the coming days, starting tomorrow, about recent developments related to race-based affirmative action. Among other recent work, Rick co-authored a widely discussed amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Fisher v. University of Texas; the Court has since granted cert, […]
Fisher v. Texas and the Texas Ten Percent Plan Revisited
Joshua Thompson of the Pacific Legal Foundation has an interesting response to my post arguing that a victory for the plaintiffs in the Fisher v. Texas case could turn out to be a pyrrhic victory for opponents of racial preferences, if it is coupled with an endorsement of the Texas ten percent plan and other […]
Why Fisher v. Texas Might Turn Out to be a Pyrrhic Victory for Opponents of Racial Preferences
In general, I am not a fan of the “diversity” rationale for affirmative action, and I have considerable sympathy for plaintiffs’ position in Fisher v. Texas, the University of Texas affirmative action case that the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear. However, in this recent Slate article, Richard Thompson Ford, a leading defender of affirmative […]
Fisher v. Texas and the Future of Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case of Fisher v. Texas is likely to have important implications for the future of affirmative action in higher education. In my view, it is highly likely that the five conservative justices will vote to strike down the University of Texas affirmative action program. On the other hand, […]
Issues on which People are Most Resistant to Persuasion
By Ilya Somin on February 6, 2012 11:51 pm in Abortion, Affirmative Action, Constitutional Law, Political Ignorance
This semester, I am once again teaching Constitutional Law II: The Fourteenth Amendment. I often tell my students in this class that there are three issues on which most people are particularly resistant to rational persuasion: abortion, the death penalty, and affirmative action. And it so happens that the course covers all three. Actually, there […]
Debate on Fisher v. University of Texas
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 […]
Affirmative Action for Men in College Admissions
My wife Alison and University of San Diego law professor Gail Heriot have just published an article in Engage on the apparently growing practice of sex discrimination on behalf of men in college admissions. Heriot serves as a Commissioner at the US Commission on Civil Rights, where Alison is her special assistant/counsel. Here’s an excerpt […]
George Will on Fisher v. Texas
George Will recently published an interesting column on Fisher v. Texas, an important affirmative action case that the Supreme Court is in the process of deciding whether to take: The Supreme Court faces a discomfiting decision. If it chooses, as it should, to hear a case concerning racial preferences in admissions at the University of […]
Diversity Within Student Groups vs. Diversity Across Student Groups
I agree with most of what co-blogger Eugene Volokh writes about the benefits of have a wide range of student groups at law schools, including ones that focus on specific ethnic or religious groups. I addressed a similar issue in this 2007 post: Those who argue for diversity in higher education implicitly envision a school […]
Decision Invalidating Michigan Civil Rights Initiative Goes En Banc
Via Ed Whelan comes news that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has voted to rehear Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action v. Regents of the University of Michigan en banc — something I suggested would happen. In this case, a divided panel held that Michigan’s Proposal 2, aka the “Michigan Civil Rights […]
Sixth Circuit Strikes Down Michigan Civil Rights Initiative
By Jonathan H. Adler on July 1, 2011 11:07 am in Affirmative Action, Racial Discrimination, Sixth Circuit
In a divided opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down Michigan’s Proposal 2, aka the “Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.” Proposal 2 was a successful ballot initiative that provides that the state, including state educational institutions, may not “discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the […]