Senate Democratic leader Reid: Scalia used ‘racist’ rhetoric

US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia caused controversy with comments made as the justices heard arguments on affirmative action in university admissions throughout the US -particularly at the University of Texas.

During an argument framed against affirmative action, Justice Scalia argued that minority students may not benefit from “being pushed into schools that are too advanced for them”. He pointed to the precedent of the University of California, where the number of Black students fell after the state banned race-conscious admissions.

With liberal and conservative justices starkly divided, the justice who nearly certainly will dictate the outcome suggested that the court may need still more information to make a decision in a Texas case already on its second trip through the Supreme Court.

With no clear decision apparent after Wednesday’s latest arguments, Kennedy hinted that he might be in favor of sending the case back for a third time to a lower court.

The Senate Democratic leader claimed the only difference between the ideas endorsed by Trump and Scalia is that the Supreme Court Justice has a robe and a lifetime appointment. Analysts say Justice Anthony Kennedy’s vote will be the one to watch. “Maybe it ought to have fewer”. Scalia’s questions were particularly hostile to racial preferences, which he said can leave minority students worse off.

Justice Scalia is making the exhausted argument that admitting African-American students into white schools is akin to putting ponies in a horse race.

And, frankly, I don’t think the solution to the problems with student body diversity can be to set up a system in which not only are minorities going to separate schools, they’re going to inferior schools. But the school says it’s used in a more holistic review of the student, and that factor only impacts about 25 percent of students; the rest are automatically admitted by state law.

In a statement, the school’s president said, “We are hopeful the Supreme Court will reach the same conclusion as the lower courts and enable all of our students to receive the full educational benefits of diversity”.

A ruling in the Texas case isn’t expected until next June. The brief argued that affirmative action discourages beneficiaries from pursuing science and engineering degrees.

Affirmative action programs, which have been in place for years at many USA colleges and universities, are meant to produce a more robust representation of different cultures on campuses and offer opportunities to minority students who may not have had the same academic inroads experienced by some white students.

“The good news, from my standpoint, is that public officials did not give up on diversity”, Kahlenberg said. Garre said the university would end its program as soon as it is able to achieve its diversity goals without it.