In deciding to use racial preferences though, who is really making the decision? It seems in almost all cases to be bureaucrats in state agencies. It’s not like there are state laws mandating the use of racial preferences.
Nor is there is a federal law or Sup Court decision mandating the use of racial preferences in college admissions. The past Sup Court decisions have said that they can be used, not that they must be. I’m not aware of any state legislature having the stones to do what is right and end preferences, but several states have put it to the people for a direct vote and in all (but one I think???) cases, the people have voted down preferences.
States are fully able to end the use of preferences in their public institutions. The reason they don’t, even in allegedly conservative states like Texas, is cowardice. Well, there are other reasons (like the Jack Kemp strain of the party who actually support preferences and buy into the Diversity nonsense), but fear of being called names is at or near the top of the list.
Now I should add that the freedom of states to end the use of racial preferences has come into question recently. In 2006, as the GOP went down in flames, the people of Michigan voted overwhelmingly to pass a state constitutional amendment banning the use of racial preferences. Her majesty Sandra Day O’Connor (retired by then), who had saved the use of racial preferences a few years earlier, said that she thought the vote from the rubes of Michigan to be perfectly legitimate. How generous of her! However, a federal court has since struck down the state amendment. The crazy opinion says something like the banning of preferences via an amendment would make it harder for minorities to reverse it at some future date, therefore its unconstitutional! It really is one of the all time activist decisions with it’s twisted reasoning. Hopefully it will be overturned on appeal, but I never expect good things from the courts.
But my point is that the ability of the states to end the use of preferences was never in doubt until recently with this crazy federal court decision. So there is no excuse for GOP inaction on this. A Sup Court decision would be nice, but it shouldn’t be necessary. The states can and should end preferences, and their implementation by bureaucracies should never be permitted to stand.