What the Justices Heard and Said: A report from last Monday’s oral arguments on racial admissions preferences.

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | November 7, 2022 | Wenyuan Wu

[karpov]

One week ago today, attorneys for Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) laid out their cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina before the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices also heard arguments from attorneys representing the defendants and the Executive Branch.

While the plaintiff held firm on the narrowly tailored position that racial preferences are wrong, proponents of race-based affirmative action brought to the Court overblown theatrics concerning diversity. Putting an end to race-conscious college admissions would, they explained, have devastating effects on campus diversity, which could not be compensated for by race-neutral alternatives.

imultaneously, however, these champions of race consciousness—including North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Director David Hinojosa, and U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar—all contended that race is nothing but a minor factor in the two schools’ undergraduate admissions processes.

This inherent self-contradiction, between the gloomy anticipation of disruptions to the diversity pipeline and the quibble that race really doesn’t matter that much, was echoed by Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Jackson, who heard the UNC argument despite recusing herself from the Harvard case, repeatedly referred to the existence of 40 factors other than race in the university’s holistic model.

Is the first of progressives’ contradictory claims really the case? Will ending pernicious racial discrimination truly be so bad for the American people, the majority of whom, according to the latest poll by the left-leaning Washington Post, want to keep race out of college admissions?

[Tell It Right]

I bet the non-biologist did most of the talking.

[fwdude]

“We must be racist is order not to be racist.”

[fwdude]

I bet the non-biologist did most of the talking.

In ghetto gibberish.

[WeaslesRippedMyFlesh]

Go no go decisions based on race for anything are unconstitutional.

Period.

There is nothing to argue.

[CaptainK]

If Justice Ketanji Brown can’t identify what a woman is how can she identify a black person?

[Reily]

She is at least as conscious as a paramecium or an amoeba. They can distinguish light from dark.

[sten]

Admission to universities comes down to the student’s overall admission score

10-20% of that score is a diversity score.

Take a guess how many points, out of 20, a straight, white, Christian male will score...

0.

Tough to beat out the others when your maximum score is 80%

[Jacquerie]

Great column as usual from the James G Martin Center.

[The Great RJ]

Why are Asians, a minority, more likely to be admitted if race is not considered? The answer is simple. Asians in general place a high value on education and their kids often excel academically. Blacks especially in metro areas have developed a subculture that denigrates academic performance and accuses academically gifted Blacks of acting white, This subculture is supported by liberal policies that have told Blacks that they cannot succeed because of racism. Latinos are coming into their own and are fostering academic performance. Native Americans are a sad case. Their government dependence and very poor schools on reservations puts them at a disadvantage. However, some tribal schools are also encouraging their students with science and technology subjects. The Cass Lake High School on the Chipawa reservation boasts about being first in robotics competition and one of their tribal college students was awarded a prestigious NASA scholarship.

[1malumprohibitum]

The elephant in the room is that their own attorneys are basically saying that if colleges are not allowed to discriminate, minorities can’t go to college.

[An American in Turkiye]

Curious, why do you capitalize the b in black yet not the w in white?

[refermech]

Exactly, If discrimination is wrong then reverse discrimination is wrong too. Maybe some consideration should be given to that poor but we already have that with all the grants and scholarships.

[SharpRightTurn]

“Putting an end to race-conscious college admissions would, they explained, have devastating effects on campus diversity.” Do these hypocrites wring their hands about the lack of diversity on the basketball team?

Let the chips fall where they may. Make it 100% on ability and excellence, screw the social engineering.

[Verginius Rufus]

Maybe the justices will decide to follow Solomon's example and split the baby in half.

Race-based affirmative action can't be used to keep Asians out, but it's OK to use it to keep whites out.

[nicollo]

These idiots will create more not less racial discrimination by forcing race as a criteria for college admissions.

For example, with the SAT ban, the Univ. Cal system has created the situation in which students are measured by their relative GPA/ high school achievement / activities, etc., and not by their academic ability. Essentially, by ignoring SAT scores, UC elevates black/latin students from uncompetitive high schools, while simultaneously denigrating black/latin kids who are in competitive high schools.

Those black/latin kids in competitive high schools are likely not top 20 GPA/etc., but would have far higher SAT scores than the top 20 GPA/etc. black/latin kids in the uncompetitive schools.