Supreme Meaning of Affirmative Action?

Even the progressive NY Times saw the handwriting on the wall, admitting a Supreme Court majority “seemed skeptical” of allowing colleges to consider race in admissions & what WSJ calls “Secret Meaning of Equity.”

As a Justice once suggested, discriminating against a race to fight discrimination against another race is the definition of discrimination. Perhaps not so a half century ago – I still recall my U of I baseball team’s tour of the Deep South during the late 60s & saw first-hand blatant discrimination against blacks that needed a draconian measure like “affirmative action” to turn the tide. But, maybe not so much after FIVE decades of school bussing, a King Tut’s treasure in financial aid programs, job quotas enough to get anyone a good job & enough social welfare benefits to bankrupt a United Kingdom, not to mention millions of hard-working blacks having earned the American Dream in their move to suburbia …

But, agreed. The NYTs saw what many saw, i.e., more Justices than not no longer defending colleges using race to help decide admissions, but questioning its wisdom aggressively in debates with the attorneys before the Court. As the WSJ’s William McGurn wrote in “Affirmative Action Exposes the Secret Meaning of Equity,” the once and perhaps still valued social justice tool, at least “Within academia, all understand it as a way to favor some races at the expense of others.” As the paper’s editorial board asked: “Can [a] Harvard Discriminate by Race Forever?” What does the Constitution say? We’ll find out when the Court decides the several such cases now before it later this year.

Davd Soul