Free Republic

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Tennessee on Wednesday seeks to end a program designed to funnel tens of millions of dollars to colleges and universities with a large percentage of Hispanic students, charging it is racist and unconstitutional. The suit was filed by the state of Tennessee and advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions against the U.S. Department of Education. In 2023, the advocates’ suit against Harvard University led to the Supreme Court ruling it unconstitutional to consider race in university admissions. A federal funding program designates schools as “Hispanic-Serving Institutions” if they have at least 25% Hispanic-student...

SOUTH THOMASTON, Me. — A former mayor of Poway, a small city in Southern California, wrote a column in August in his local newspaper with this headline: “A gun to my head.” He was upset about how a state law had forced Poway to redo its voting districts so Latinos would have a better chance of winning elections. Reading the piece on his computer 3,000 miles away, Edward Blum knew he had found his newest case. Seeing one of his bêtes noires — racial gerrymandering — at work, Mr. Blum recruited the former mayor, Don Higginson, as a plaintiff, and...

... Mr. Blum does not give up easily. He has started a series of websites seeking plaintiffs. “Were you denied admission to the University of North Carolina?” one asks. “It may be because you’re the wrong race.” The site features a picture of a student who appears to be Asian-American. There is a form to fill out and a bit of hand holding. Mr. Blum’s group, the Project on Fair Representation, “covers all expenses,” the site says. “In every similar case during the last 12 years or so, no individual was required to appear or testify in any court or...