Bush's tough choice on race
Posted on 01/14/2003 3:40:12 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Bush's tough choice on race
Stance on affirmative action may hurt ties to GOP, minority voters
01/14/2003
WASHINGTON - The latest legal challenge to affirmative action presents President Bush with a difficult decision over whom to offend: longtime conservative supporters or minority voters he would like to attract.
Mr. Bush has until Thursday to decide whether to oppose, support or stay neutral in a Supreme Court case that could decide the fate of affirmative action programs at colleges across the country.
Blacks and Hispanics said this is an opportunity for Mr. Bush to prove his support for racial diversity, especially in light of the flap over former Senate majority leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.
Conservatives called the case a chance for Mr. Bush to oppose "reverse discrimination," which they said occurred under the admissions plan used by undergraduate and law school programs at the University of Michigan, the subject of the Supreme Court case.
Administration officials said Mr. Bush is studying his options and considering a legal brief opposing the Michigan program but expressing general support for diversity in higher education.
Officials said that, as governor of Texas, Mr. Bush promoted "affirmative access" and backed a plan in which the top 10 percent of all high school graduating classes are granted automatic admission to any state college.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Mr. Bush is soliciting opinions from his attorneys and has not made a decision.
"The president, who is very sensitive to issues involving diversity and opportunity for all, wants to make sure that it's approached in a thorough and careful, deliberative manner," Mr. Fleischer said.
Some conservatives feared Mr. Bush would back off the affirmative action battle in light of the Lott fiasco, but officials said they expect Mr. Bush to take a position.
Civil rights groups said Mr. Bush's 10 percent approach has not promoted diversity as well as other affirmative action plans, all of which could be swept away when the Supreme Court rules on the Michigan case this year.
Friend or foe?
The court may revisit its most famous affirmative action case, the Bakke decision of 1978. The 5-4 decision boiled down to the opinion of Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., who ruled against quotas but said colleges could use race as one of many factors to foster the goal of a diverse student body.
Presidential administrations often file friend-of-the-court briefs in potentially landmark cases, but they are under no obligation to do so.
In deciding whether to get involved in this case, Bush aides said the president would make his decision based on the law, though attorneys involved in the case said it would have profound political implications as well.
Supporters of the Michigan program - which involves different scales to assess white and black applicants - said colleges have a valid interest in promoting a more diverse student body, one better reflecting a multiracial nation.
Some blacks said Bush opposition to the Michigan affirmative action program would further undermine Republican standing with minority viewers.
"It would send a tragic message to millions of African-Americans and Latinos who rely very heavily on education as the door to opportunity," said Theodore Shaw, the associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is representing intervening minority students in the Michigan case.
The affirmative action decision comes at a particularly sensitive time for Mr. Bush and the Republicans. Last month they jettisoned Mr. Lott from his GOP leadership position after he praised Strom Thurmond's pro-segregation presidential campaign of 1948.
"The Trent Lott stuff is easy," Mr. Shaw said. "But this [affirmative action case] is where the rubber hits the road."
The administration's political supporters have made no secret of their desire to attract more black voters, only 8 percent of whom backed Mr. Bush in 2000. Some programs, such as support for faith-based charities, have been designed with this goal in mind.
Hispanic factor
Republicans also have their political eye on the nation's growing Hispanic population, and some Hispanic leaders said they are keeping a sharp eye on what Mr. Bush does with the Michigan case.
"This is a defining issue for the nation as a whole, but it is also a defining issue for this presidency," said Manuel Mirabal, who chairs an organization called the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.
Cecilia Muñoz, a vice president with the National Council of La Raza - and University of Michigan graduate - said Hispanics regard education as their top issue and added that opposition by Mr. Bush to affirmative action would be perceived as anti-education.
"It's going to be very difficult for him to frame himself as pro-Latino and pro-opportunity," she said.
Conservatives said white students denied admission to schools in favor of minority students with lower grades and test scores are also entitled to equal opportunity.
The Washington-based Center for Individual Rights, which is representing white students in the Michigan case, expressed confidence that Mr. Bush will back the notion of a colorblind society.
"I think conservatives hope that Bush will be consistent with the principles he enunciated when he was governor of Texas," said Curt Levey, a center spokesman.
Other confident conservatives noted that Solicitor General Theodore Olson, the Justice Department lawyer who argues the administration's cases before the Supreme Court, once represented white plaintiffs who successfully sued the University of Texas over an affirmative action plan.
Roger Clegg, general counsel with the Center for Equal Opportunity, in Sterling, Va., said conservatives would be "livid" if Mr. Bush winds up supporting the Michigan program. He said they would also be disappointed with a "wishy-washy" brief that opposes Michigan but supports the concept of diversity in general.
Aides said Mr. Bush is reviewing all sides of the arguments.
"The president views matters of race as some of the most important, sensitive matters in our country," Mr. Fleischer said.
E-mail djackson@dallasnews.com
I'm still trying to decide if this article is 'news' or an editorial that the DMN is selling as news.
Not really. Bush has no choice but to participate on the issue in favor of a racially-blind society. To do otherwise would demonstrate a lack of character, courage, integrity.
Period.
This is a question for a liberal or Clinton. How about doing what's right (end government sanctioned race based discrimination)?
Someday someone has to do something to redefine "diversity".
Just because people look different does not mean they are "diverse". People from different nations, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds can look exactly the same.
And if you are a WASP, it's impossible for you to be "diverse".
It's all too subjective.
I hope that the matter is put to rest and that the court decides that "affirmative action" can only be construed as the provision of "equal opportunity" and not "equal outcomes".
Yah, but wasn't the 2A case as situation in which Ashcroft had to deal with the laws on the books, which are all based on Miller?
We haven't reached critical mass, yet, on 2A, and really don't want to until we replace Rehnquist (with Thomas, hopefully...), and nominate Garcia or another conservative. Square those guys away, then the Court can resolve the Fifth and the Ninth Circuits (and given the nature of the opinion that came out of the Ninth, it should be expected that Scalia will run riot...).
Bush's choice is really a no-brainer. If Republicans are going to advocate "race-neutral" law, then they should stand up and say so. And this is what I believe they will do.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
They're going to want a whole lot more than some words spoken in Spanish to them.
Blacks and Hispanics said this is an opportunity for Mr. Bush to prove his support for racial diversity, especially in light of the flap over former Senate majority leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.
Note the slanderous bias in our reporter's lead sentences...
Since the beginning of last year hes always gone with offend the conservatives. Thats why his approval rating is down.
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