Supreme Court Eyes Affirmative Action

As with many cases before the Roberts court, attention has turned to Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Twelve years ago, the justices reaffirmed the consideration of race in the quest for diversity on campus.

Scalia was referring to what is called a “mismatch theory” related to affirmative action, a hotly debated topic. The court’s only Hispanic, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, defended the Texas program and, after listing university data supporting its use, asked Fisher’s attorney, “What more do they need”.

Fisher, a white woman, had accused the university of racial profiling in its admission processing. This is the second time the case has hit the highest court in the land. On a 7-1 vote, the Supreme Court sent the case down to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals for more evidence.

Kennedy seemed frustrated at the prospect of having to decide the case, which the court largely ducked in a previous encounter in 2013.

That’s partly because those flagships compete with private universities that can consider race, said Kahlenberg.

Greg Garre, the university’s lawyer, countered Scalia by saying students admitted through the supplemental program “fare better” over time than those entering through the “top 10” policy.

Alito said Texas hadn’t shown how students admitted through affirmative action added an element of diversity that wasn’t already provided by the minority students accepted under the Top Ten Percent program. His language had many on social media calling him a racist.

Justice, Antonin Scalia was subject to controversy due to his statement that African American students are better off in “slower track” universities.

“They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they’re – that they’re being pushed ahead in – in classes that are too – too fast for them”, Scalia said. Maybe it ought to have fewer (black students)… Our source indicated that Justice Scalia distinguished “really competent blacks” as those capable of attending the most competitive schools and excelling there. Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said she heard compelling arguments in favor of UT-Austin.

Now they are contemplating taking things a step further and declaring that race can not be a factor in admissions at all.

During oral arguments on Wednesday in Fisher v. University of Texas, crackpot Scalia offered up this thought on Black students. He added that there is great heterogeneity among students of all races.

In 1978, the Supreme Court imposed limitations on affirmative action to ensure that racial majorities did not suffer reverse discrimination, but it was upheld within universities.

It was during these arguments that Justice Antonin Scalia voiced what is perhaps the most boneheaded opinion about black students.

“There is no way that class-based affirmative action could maintain the level of racial and ethnic diversity at selective institutions”, she said. UT-Austin has argued it must be able to attract minorities with varying backgrounds, special challenges and unique skills, not just those who graduate in the top 10 percent of their class. Alito said he is suspicious of any argument that UT-Austin can’t find those students in the automatically admitted pool. The plan was created to increase representation of minorities and low-income students, made possible, in part, by the fact that the state’s high schools remain largely segregated.