Scalia draws rebukes for comments about black students

It is unknown whether the Supreme Court will approve or reject the race-conscious admissions plan at the University of Texas at Austin, but there is no question about what has emerged as the most controversial moment of Wednesday’s hearing.

The case concerns the University of Texas who is being sued by a white female student who claims that affirmative action is the reason she was not accepted to the school.

Eight, and not nine, justices heard the arguments in round two of Fisher v. University of Texas on Wednesday morning. The case is back at the Supreme Court because the original plaintiff and her lawyers maintain that lower courts did not adequately follow the Supreme Court’s directions in considering the case after the 2013 ruling.

This viewpoint by one of the nation’s top judicial voices comes as colleges across America are dealing with high levels of racial incidents and confrontations on campus.

In addition to Kennedy’s remarks, Justice Antonin Scalia raised a few eyebrows when he started to state arguments presented in briefs to the court about race and college admissions.

Garre: If this Court rules that the University of Texas can’t consider race, or if it rules that universities that consider race have to die a death of a thousand cuts for doing so, we know exactly what’s going to happen. “We would have more black scientists, engineers and physicians if colleges used race-neutral policies”, said Heriot, who is a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “They found new ways to create it, and in some ways better methods, given that they will benefit economically-disadvantaged students of all races”.

As the case goes on, black graduates have taken to Twitter to challenge Justice Scalia’s comments and you know, tell Abby what’s up.

Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that admitting students through holistic review might do them a disservice, and that African-American students who are not in the top 10 percent of their high school might benefit from attending a “slower-track school” as opposed to the state flagship.

Lewis added in his statement that Scalia’s “evident bias is very troubling” and calls into question “his ability to make impartial judgments in this case”.

In making his remarks, Scalia said he was referring to research showing that minority students admitted to competitive universities through affirmative action can often struggle to succeed if they don’t have top academics. Justice Roberts seemed dubious, asking, “What unique perspective does a minority student bring to a physics class?”

In fact, the number of African-Americans who have gone on to receive doctorates in science and engineering-related fields grew by more than 50% from 2002 to 2011, according to statistics from the National Science Foundation.

“The argument went for an hour and a half, which is much longer than they usually go”, Thompsons said.

During the Wednesday affirmative action arguments, Scalia suggested that some black students belong at “slower-track” universities.