Posted on 12/13/2015 1:02:11 PM PST by VinL
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is siding with many Democrats in criticizing conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia over comments he made about African American student achievement during oral arguments earlier this week of the affirmative action case, Fisher v. University of Texas.
"I thought his remarks were very tough,"Trump said of Scalia in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that aired Sunday.
"They were very, very tough to a certain community," the Republican front-runner continued. "I thought it was very tough to the African-American community."
Scalia's remarks, made Wednesday, drew accusations of racism from Democrats and liberal activists who claimed that he was arguing that African American college students are less capable than other students. But Scalia's supporters have said that he was merely citing academic literature which has found that students granted admission based on affirmative action often struggle to keep up with their peers..
"There are those who contend that it does not benefit African Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less advanced school, a slower-track school where they do well,: Scalia said.
Referencing a friend of the court brief, Scalia said that it "pointed out that most of the black scientists in this country don’t come from schools like the University of Texas."
"They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they’re being pushed ahead in classes that are too fast for them," the justice continued.
The remarks received immediate pushback from Democratic politicians and liberal activists.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid condemned Scalia's remarks on the Senate floor on Thursday. On Friday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called on Scalia to recuse himself from affirmative action cases in the future.
Scalia's defenders asserted that he was referring to what is known as "mismatch theory," a theory popularized by UCLA law professor Richard Sander and legal journalist Stuart Taylor Jr. in their book, “Mismatch: How Affirmative Action Hurts Students It's intended to Help, and why Universities won’t admit it."
But Trump appears not to buy into the thesis.
"I don't like what he said," Trump told Tapper of Scalia. "I heard him, I was like, let me read it again."
"I'm going 'whoa!'" the real estate billionaire concluded.
It remains to be seen how Trump's supporters will respond to their candidate’s criticism of Scalia, who is perhaps the most conservative Supreme Court justice.
In a round table analysis of Trump's interview, CNN's Dana Bash asserted that "for a Republican, for a conservative, to criticize Scalia is anathema."
"He sounded a lot like Harry Reid sounded there," she added.
“dailycaller haven’t been a reliable paraphraser of what Trump said. At first this annoyed me then I found it it was dailycaller”
Thank you for a breath of fresh air on this site. Doubt should always be placed on the reporting first. As Cruz once said, reporters are NOT our friends. They’ve lost all credibility in my opinion.
I definitely do not see that. I put a Trump sticker on my car, as one example, and you’d think it was a big Please Honk sign. Flew into Sacramento and on drive home, had a guy waving and thumbs up, showing off his Reagan/Bush sweatshirt. The ONLY person I know that doesn’t like him is my wife, who now refuses to drive my car. Funny that was all it took to get her to leave it alone.
Your grapevine’s ‘word of mouth’ would be wrong. - Active twitter-er
Didn’t convince me. :-)
I didn’t say I was convinced either.
But Gov. Romney did a better job than trump.
Agreed!
Trump is simply pandering for black votes and attention.
The Trumptards are supporting a guy who was gung-ho about partial-birth abortion until 5 minutes ago, loves socialized health-care, and who supports “touch-back” amnesty (touch your toe in Mexico - then welcome back!).
So the fact that Trump is too thick to follow an oral argument won’t upset them.
exactly. I have posted almost that same reply myself a number of times since the ascension of the hairtard.
Trump may know more than Scalia about this subject. Affirmative Action continues throughout the student’s academic career—if necessary. That’s why Scalia is wrong. We don’t admit kids to a top-tier college and then abandon them. It’s a process. They are watched individually. Some are up to warp speed immediately and some get there later.
Education at a top American college is a very beautiful thing, or used to be before the Left got ahold of it. It would not be fair to deny this to an entire group.
Everybody does this when negotiating. So elementary. But Trump is not negotiating with the American people. He doesn’t intend to end up somewhere in the middle. What he says is what he means. In fact, he probably means something even more “preposterous” that we’re not ready to hear.
“He sounded a lot like Harry Reid sounded there,”
Yes, he did, and I’m surprised that none of the others has called him on it — especially given his praise for his pro-abort radical sister, whom he says would make a “terrific” Supreme Court justice.
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