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The Supreme Court's Affirmative Action Ruling Is Already Having an Impact. You Might Be Surprised Where.
Washington Free Beacon ^ | July 6, 2023 | Aaron Sibarium

Posted on 07/06/2023 8:11:52 AM PDT by george76

Columbia Law journals are delaying admissions decisions in the wake of the Court's landmark ruling. The move highlights how the verdict could have implications beyond undergraduate admissions.

Law journals at Columbia University Law School are delaying their masthead decisions in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling last week outlawing race-based college admissions, a sign that the ban on affirmative action is already having an effect beyond undergraduate programs.

The law school's office of student services, which coordinates applications to all journals including the flagship Columbia Law Review, said Sunday that journal acceptances had been postponed until the school could verify that they comport with the new, race-blind standard articulated in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

"In light of the Supreme Court decision on Thursday, we are working with university leadership to better understand any implications for the journal ranking process," the office told students in an email. "Because of this, journal acceptances will be delayed until we receive further clarity."

"We have an obligation," the office added, "to … ensure that our decision processes are consistent with the law."

...

Law journals have long used affirmative action to select student editors as well as articles for publication. The delay suggests that this widespread practice could be on the chopping block as a result of the High Court's sweeping ruling, which experts say has laid the groundwork for invalidating a host of race-based policies across academia and corporate America.

"It's almost impossible to avoid the implication that all recipients of federal funds are now subject to the same rule announced in Students for Fair Admissions," said Dan Morenoff, the executive director of the American Civil Rights Project, which filed an amicus brief in support of the group that sued Harvard. As long as a law review is part of a federally funded university, it faces "the same constraints that the 14th Amendment applies to state entities."

That could spell trouble for Columbia's journals in the event of a legal challenge. Though the Columbia Law Review is technically an independent nonprofit, students apply to it through the university's online portal, and those with questions about the review are referred to the law school's associate director of academic advising, Jordan Carr. Other journals at the law school are published "in partnership" with the university, according to their websites.

Neither Columbia Law School nor the Columbia Law Review responded to requests for comment.

Legal academia is already feeling the heat from the Supreme Court's decision. Within 24 hours of the ruling, the conservative public interest firm America First Legal sent letters to 200 law schools demanding that they scrap racial preferences not just in student admissions but also in faculty hiring and law reviews.

"We will represent victims of these policies and sue any law school that allows these illegal and discriminatory practices to continue," the letters read.

The pause at Columbia indicates that the school's journals have similar programs, as do the demographic data solicited by the Columbia Law Review. Applicants are asked about their race, gender, and sexual orientation, according to segments of application form reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, and can also submit "other relevant information" about their "personal identity."

...

Even before the Supreme Court's ruling, law reviews were dealing with legal headaches over their use of racial preferences. In 2018, a Texas-based group sued the Harvard Law Review and the New York University Law Review for allegedly discriminating in the admissions process. While both lawsuits were eventually dismissed—largely on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked standing—law reviews may struggle to fend off similar complaints going forward, Morenoff said.

The Supreme Court's new standard could pose a particular problem for the Yale Law Journal, which in 2021 released admissions data following accusations of racism from minority students. It turned out the top-ranked law review accepted white and Asian applicants at much lower rates than their black counterparts, numbers that parallel the disparities cited by the Supreme Court in its judgment against Harvard.

"It certainly sounds like the whole set of elite law journals will need to change their MO or face consequences," Morenoff said.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: admissions; affirmativeaction; aft; college; collegeadmissions; columbia; columbialaw; columbiauniversity; education; nea; scotus; unions; university

1 posted on 07/06/2023 8:11:52 AM PDT by george76
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To: george76
Columbia Law School: "We have an obligation," the office added, "to … ensure that our decision processes are consistent with the law."


2 posted on 07/06/2023 8:17:28 AM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: george76

At the end of the day there will be little to no immediate effect — ‘cause the racists will try to get around.

But, this ruling gives anyone supposedly hurt by such racism standing and precedent to file a lawsuit. The criminal organization will settle.

It could be a death by a thousand cuts. I’d prefer a guillotine in the public square where the racist bureaucrats are lined up, but I could live with a slow death.


3 posted on 07/06/2023 8:17:59 AM PDT by bobbo666 (Baizuo)
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To: george76

Stalling tactic.

They are trying to figure a way around it.........................


4 posted on 07/06/2023 8:19:28 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: bobbo666

I will add the types of articles written will still be pro woke; esg, dei, crt, libration theory, lgbtqu812 screeds, etc.


5 posted on 07/06/2023 8:22:06 AM PDT by Liaison (TANSTAAFL)
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To: bobbo666

Those big Ivy League and other private university endowments are looking very tempting right now—let a million lawsuits bloom—time for white folks to get their reparations.


6 posted on 07/06/2023 8:24:35 AM PDT by cgbg (Claiming that laws and regs that limit “hate speech” stop freedom of speech is “hate speech”.)
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To: george76

A long history of this. In February of 1990 I was temporarily without a car and took the bus to work. I was always a newspaper scanner, but at that time read it from cover to cover, as the trip took two hours. I distinctly remember reading an article how this Kenyan was just appointed as first head of the Harvard Law Review. Of course now we know that he was academically distinguished that the appointment is unsurprising. He gloriously went on the become the first President of the Harvard Law Review not to publish and articlenduring his tenure


7 posted on 07/06/2023 8:25:12 AM PDT by j.havenfarm (22 years on Free Republic, 12/10/22! more then 6500 replies and still not shutting up!)
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To: george76

Legal academia is already feeling the heat from the Supreme Court’s decision. Within 24 hours of the ruling, the conservative public interest firm America First Legal sent letters to 200 law schools demanding that they scrap racial preferences not just in student admissions but also in faculty hiring and law reviews.

“We will represent victims of these policies and sue any law school that allows these illegal and discriminatory practices to continue,” the letters read.”

‘The pause at Columbia indicates that the school’s journals have similar programs, as do the demographic data solicited by the Columbia Law Review. Applicants are asked about their race, gender, and sexual orientation, according to segments of application form reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, and can also submit “other relevant information” about their “personal identity.’


8 posted on 07/06/2023 8:26:33 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (We have no shortage of experts, stating B$ as fact, & they have no idea nor reality re solutions!!)
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To: Red Badger

Stalling tactic.

They are trying to figure a way around it.........................


That’s a possibility. Maybe they are also just happy to be able to admit more blue blood country club types instead of wasting slots on unqualified minorities.

As a hiring manager, I’m hopeful that I’ll soon be able to hire people based solely on their ability to do the job at hand without corporate HR filtering my applicants.


9 posted on 07/06/2023 8:26:53 AM PDT by ConservativeWarrior (Fall down seven times, stand up eight. - Japanese proverb)
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To: george76

There might be legal consequences for racial discrimination? Horrors!!! How did that genie ever get out of the bottle?


10 posted on 07/06/2023 8:28:11 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: bobbo666

Correct. If a suit is successful it will carry damages without proof of loss, punitives in some cases, and most always attorney fees.


11 posted on 07/06/2023 8:28:59 AM PDT by anton
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To: george76

Colleges should have no problem telling who’s an eeevvvil White straight male with all body parts intact when they read the application essay. Also, it shouldn’t be very difficult to tell who’s a member of America’s #1 preferred minority.

Essays that follow all the rules of grammar and spelling will be rejected. Same for those that tell all about volunteer missionary work in Indonesia. Coming from an intact family will not help you get admitted.

There’s always the name. Kevin O’connor just wasted a stamp sending in his app. Shantavious Jackson will do better.


12 posted on 07/06/2023 8:30:43 AM PDT by I want the USA back (A man is not a woman. A woman is not a man. There is no in-between or undefined middle. Cat = cat.)
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To: george76

The left will ultimately embrace this decision because of illegal immigration.

If I recollect correctly, the affirmative action type statutes didn’t actually say black/white but “disadvantage minority”.

Thanks to illegal immigrants flooding the country and having more rights than residents means that whites will soon be the disadvantaged minority.


13 posted on 07/06/2023 8:30:51 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: george76
Within 24 hours of the ruling, the conservative public interest firm America First Legal sent letters to 200 law schools demanding that they scrap racial preferences not just in student admissions but also in faculty hiring and law reviews. "We will represent victims of these policies and sue any law school that allows these illegal and discriminatory practices to continue," the letters read.

Endowments are at risk and lawsuits with the backing of a SCOTUS ruling will have great weight. I'll bet universities are hesitant to be too cute by half on this.

14 posted on 07/06/2023 8:31:51 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: cgbg

“Those big Ivy League and other private university endowments are looking very tempting right now—let a million lawsuits bloom—time for white folks to get their reparations.”

Wonder how many recent evil white and Asian college grads and drop outs have been contacted by the legal vultures.


15 posted on 07/06/2023 8:32:15 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (We have no shortage of experts, stating B$ as fact, & they have no idea nor reality re solutions!!)
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To: cgbg

Bingo! Just add the Asians mistreated from acceptance to graduation or dropout.


16 posted on 07/06/2023 8:34:52 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (We have no shortage of experts, stating B$ as fact, & they have no idea nor reality re solutions!!)
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To: Red Badger

I was going to mention Baraq Obama when he taught constitutional law, his exams pretty much all dealt with how to circumvent laws in place to get around them.

I went looking for the questions and happened to come across this gem, it just seems so coincidental that he asked this question back then about mandatory vaccinations in his exam.

http://graphics.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/2008OBAMA_LAW/conlaw3.obama.2001.autumn.pdf

the whole list of his exam questions here - Seems he loves to question ways to circumvent existing passed laws.

https://ziefbrief.typepad.com/ziefbrief/2008/07/there-has-been.html


17 posted on 07/06/2023 8:36:43 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Abathar

Interesting indeed!........................


18 posted on 07/06/2023 8:50:26 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: j.havenfarm
Obama was the first black President of the Harvard Law Review. Of course there had been many others before him who were not black--but they decided that they had to have a black President and apparently he was the best qualified among the pool of black law students at Harvard at the time. Before that it had always gone to the most distinguished law student.
19 posted on 07/06/2023 10:33:12 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

Close ALL the law schools for 10 years. We do not need them and marginally employed lawyers are polluting other professions.


20 posted on 07/06/2023 11:12:12 AM PDT by Machavelli (True God)
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