Split Decision: Supreme court upholds grad policy, strikes Undergrad

MSNBC Live | 06-23-03

[Brian S]

Supreme Court rules in favor of U. of Michigan Admissions Policy

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

The striking down of a point system should be important. How else can colleges continue to evaluate and rate candidates without their point systems? As a result they will NOT be able to consider race as a factor IF they continue to use a point system.

They can still use a point system. They just can't give points for being a particular color (i.e., black) per se. Clearly, by rigging the numbers, they could have admitted a desired quota of blacks. In fact, this is what they did. They backed into the "20 point" advantage by computing the number of points that would be necessary to insure that the overall racial component at the school would be reflective of the proportions in the overall national population. So, if you want your campus to be 12% black, yor reverse engineer the weighting for race on the the application to accomplish this. SCOTUS ruled correctly that this (obviously, to me) was contrary to The Constitution.

[OldFriend]

If this decision had gone the other way there would have been irreparable harm to the President's campaign for a second term.

Please consider how every decision on every issue between now and election day must be viewed thru the prism of 2004.

[Straight Vermonter]

how are they going to prevent those blacks whose ethnic roots are in Jamaica or Haiti or other non-African countries from benefitting by affirmative action since they were not slaves

They were not AMERICAN slaves but they sure weren't in the Carribbean on vacation.

[isthisnickcool]

Rush was right Bush wimped out on this one too.

Bush is on the Supreme Court now? Dang! I just can't keep up with the news.....

[Howlin]

Explain, please.

[yonif]

How can affirmative action be okay in the grad school and not in the undergrad school?

[justshe]

"Reported on threads on FR" is NOT a source or a link.

And Robert Novak would need actual PROOF rather than his opinion. He is NOT a reliable source, imo.

[OldFriend]

In the minds of most fair Americans this merely confirms the thought that minorities cannot achieve without help from the 'establishment'. This is a pitiful state but consistent with people who consistently vote democrat against their own best interests and believe gaining the system is to their advantage.

WE KNOW BETTER

[Straight Vermonter]

20 points for being black....12 for a PERFECT SAT SCORE

The point system was apparently struck down. The 2nd decision limits how extreme the racism in college admissions can be.

[ijcr]

Let the law suits begin.This is going to cost the taxpayers
millions.

Anyone declined admission on the points system can have a go at them.

[Carolinamom]

I'd welcome your take on these decisions. Did you file an amicus brief in either?

[hchutch]

Dunno if I'd use that reasoning exactly.

It's more along the lines of a burden of proof issue to me. The undergrad applicants proved they were being discriminated against, and the system got tossed. The law school student couldn't prove it, and as a result, that system stood up.

That is how I would expect ALL such claims of discrimination to be handled. I can live with this split decision.

[OldFriend]

Re your #31.........you ask too much. Nothing happens on the planet that somehow doesn't get blamed on our President!

[Howlin]

Robert Novak IS a Democrat, regardless of what some people say.

[Reagan Man]

>>>Unfortunately, x42 got 43 in '92. :-)

Thanks to the "little general". =^)

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Luis, I think I love you. :-) Actually, I love how you come up with the perfect reply nearly 100 percent of the time. Are you an attorney? Could we get you nominated to the Supreme Court perhaps?

Yeah, getting a smart Hispanic conservative past the filibustering dems should be child's play. :)

[aristeides]

I will rely on people remembering that that was reported on threads here. There was quite a flap about the administration issuing those amicus briefs, if you remember.

[OldFriend]

Pathological habit of blaming everything including the rain no doubt on our President. Poor Todd......no life at all!

[sweetliberty]

My point was that there are blacks in this country that did not descend from Africans OR slaves in this country. Since being "African" American seems to be the deciding factor here, how are they going to weed out those non-African blacks? Oh, they aren't? So it really IS about the color of their skin and not about historical discrimination at all.

[Mo1]

Nope, not just you - if I'm reading this right, that's EXACTLY what they're saying. And if so, it has much larger ramifications for down the road...

What's your take on it?