I will admit I don’t know the background of the statement that Scalia made, but I didn’t care for his statement either. And I’m not trying to ingratiate myself with anyone.
Justice Scalia was making a common sense point that affirmative action in the placement of some minorities in top notch schools may not be in their best interest if they don’t have the foundation to keep up with the tough programs. He said they may be better served with less strenuous schools where they are better able to compete and succeed. That’s not racist, it’s just good common sense. And that’s not just opinion, there’s statistical study to affirm Scalia’s statement. Don’t need to believe it at face value, here’s a CNN opinion piece by an African American, saying Scalia has a point:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/13/opinions/mcwhorter-antonin-scalia-affirmative-action/
Scalia was citing an argument that had been made earlier during oral argument.
Its the same argument that has been made by Thomas Sowell. Due to affirmative action, some minority students are accepted into schools for which they are unprepared. As a consequence, they fail. Whereas, had they attended a lower ranked school, they may well have succeeded.
The argument is not only a product of common sense, it is also a demonstrable fact.
At the same time, every affirmative action admission is keeping a qualified student from attending the school.
Accordingly, admission policies which feature affirmative action are actually unfair to two groups -- those accepted...and those left out.