DEBATING
RACIAL PREFERENCE

 
 

PREFACE
Affirmative Action as Racial Preference:
Six Objections and An Alternative

U.S. VOTERS ANSWER
13 QUESTIONS ON
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

The Sharpest Poll We've Found !
Released June 3, 2009
* * *

PRO & CON

1. THE FACTS SHOW THAT RACIAL
PREFERENCE IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS. . .
BENEFITS AMERICA! William Bowen sums up
his book, The Shape of the River.
HARMS AMERICA! Curtis Crawford critiques
River (from Society, May 2000).

2. IS RACIAL EQUALITY OF ACHIEVEMENT
A DESIRABLE GOAL FOR THE U.S.?
YES! "College Board Task Force Report - 1999
(excerpts and link).
NO! Reply to Task Force Report by
Curtis Crawford (from Society, July 2000).

3. IS THERE ONE LAW FOR NONWHITES
AND ANOTHER LAW FOR WHITES?
YES! 200 federal statutes and regulations giving
preference to minorities, summarized by the
Congressional Research Service in 1995.
NO! Key provisions barring race discrimination
from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and President
Johnson's Executive Order 11246 of 1965.


REBUTTALS

1. The International Convention to Eliminate
All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 12/21/65
DOES THIS TREATY REALLY BAN
ALL RACIAL DISCRIMINATION?
YES! TREATY: All conduct defined as
"racial discrimination" is prohibited.
NO! REBUTTAL*: The treaty embodies and
promotes unequal treatment based on race.

2. "Mend It, But Don't End It"
A Speech by President Clinton, 7/19/95
 IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION THE WAY
TO ACHIEVE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY?
YES! CLINTON: Affirmative action
is a necessary remedy for racial injustice.
NO! REBUTTAL*: The President's speech is
full of praise for a policy he never defines.

3. "The Spoils of Victimhood"
 Michael Kinsley, The New Yorker, 3/27/95
IS MORAL REJECTION OF AFFIRMATIVE
ACTION LOGICALLY INCOHERENT?
YES! KINSLEY: "Color-blind equal opportunity"
is full of logical problems.
NO! REBUTTAL*: Amid intellectual fireworks,
Kinsley constructs and demolishes a straw man.

4. "Reverse Racism or How the Pot Got
To Call the Kettle Black,"
 Stanley Fish, The Atlantic Monthly, 11/93
SHOULD RACIAL PREFERENCE BE GRANTED
AS A REMEDY FOR PAST DISCRIMINATION?
YES! FISH: Anti-black discrimination has been
far more unjust than reverse discrimination
NO! REBUTTAL*: Both violate the moral right
not to be racially discriminated against.

5. "Bakke’s Case: Are Quotas Unfair?"
Ronald Dworkin (Ch. 14 in A Matter of Principle)
IS DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE OK
IF THEIR RACE IS NOT CONTEMNED?
YES! DWORKIN: Applicants have no constitu-
tional right to be judged by race-neutral standards,
unless their race is the object of prejudice or contempt.
NO! REBUTTAL*: This interpretation of the
constitution is a recipe for governmental
favoritism and racial enmity.


 PLUS . . .


ESSAYS*

Prof. Richard Sander's Sensational Claims
That Law School Racial Preferences Produce
Lower Black Grades and Fewer Black Lawyers
Than Would Occur With Race-Blind Admissions
(March 2005; Revised August 2012)

TWO PUZZLES:
The MCRI Amendment to Michigan's Constitution Bans Racial Discrimination,
Which Was Already Banned in Article I.

1. Why Did the MCRI Fight To Prohibit
What Was Already Forbidden?

2. Since the Prior Ban Hasn't Blocked
Affirmative Action, Why Did Its
Supporters Fear the Amendment?
(January 2007)

"Race-Based Affirmative Action
vs Racial Nondiscrimination:
The Moral Dilemma"
(March 2004)

"Stereotype Threat:
Widespread, Fundamental Misrepresentation
of Important Racial Research"
(March 2004)

"A Clear and Consistent Definition
of Discrimination,"
(April 2002)

"Weighing The Morality of Affirmative Action
as Racial Preference"
(September 1992)


SHORT PIECES*

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR*

*By Curtis Crawford

 

BOOKS WORTH READING


LINKS OF INTEREST

IN THE U.S.  SUPREME COURT
Ricci v. DeStefano (2009)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
* * *

COLORADO & NEBRASKA
VOTE ON RACIAL PREFERENCE
(2008)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
* * *

MICHIGAN DEBATES, VOTES ON
RACIAL PREFERENCE (2006)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
* * *

MICHIGAN'S RACIAL
PREFERENCE IN COURT

MICHIGAN U. ADMISSIONS CASES
PRE-DECISION FACTS & ARGUMENTS

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)

FUNDAMENTAL JUDICIAL ERROR !
Analysis - November 2003*

THE NAKED EMPEROR AWARD
Retrospect - September 2004*
* * *

IS STUDENT BODY DIVERSITY A
COMPELLING STATE INTEREST?
YES! - Justice O'Connor
NO! - Justice Thomas
Interspersed Comments*

IS THE LAW SCHOOL'S USE OF RACE A
NARROWLY TAILORED MEANS?
YES! - Justice O'Connor
NO! - Chief Justice Rehnquist
Interspersed Comments*

Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)

IS THE UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE'S
USE OF RACE NARROWLY TAILORED?
NO! - Chief Justice Rehnquist
YES! - Justice Souter
Interspersed Comments*

OTHER LANDMARK
SUPREME COURT CASES

I.
Univ. of California v. BAKKE (1978)
STATEMENT OF THE FACTS - Justice Powell

RACIAL PREFERENCE AND
THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964

A. DOES THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, TITLE VI,
ALLOW PREFERENTIAL ADMISSIONS?
YES! - Justice Powell
 NO! - Justice Stevens

 YES! - Justice Brennan et al.
NO! - Interspersed Rebuttal*

B. MAY PRIVATE PARTIES SUE UNDER TITLE VI?
YES! - Justice Stevens
MAYBE! - Justice Powell
NO! - Justice White

RACIAL PREFERENCE AND
THE CONSTITUTION

C. SHOULD WE SEEK RACIAL BALANCE
IN THE LEARNED PROFESSIONS?
YES! - Assn. Amer. Law Schools, Amicus Brief
NO! - Interspersed Rebuttal*

D. DOES RACIAL JUSTICE REQUIRE
RACIAL EQUALITY IN ACHIEVEMENT?
 YES! - Law School Admission Council, Amicus Brief
NO! - Interspersed Rebuttal*

E. DOES THE CONSTITUTION TREAT
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
WHITES AND NONWHITES DIFFERENTLY?
NO! - B'nai B'rith, Amicus Brief
YES! - Justice Brennan et al.
NO! - Justice Powell

F. DOES THE CONSTITUTION ALLOW
PREFERENTIAL ADMISSIONS?
 YES, for viewpoint diversity! - Justice Powell
YES, to remedy discrimination! - Justice Brennan et al.


X. IS THE CONSTITUTION COLORBLIND?
YES! - Attorney Thurgood Marshall, arguing in
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
 NO! - Justice Thurgood Marshall, opining in
Bakke (1978)


II.
Steelworkers v. WEBER (1979)

PREFERENTIAL EMPLOYMENT
AND NONDISCRIMINATION LAW

DOES THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, TITLE VII,
PERMIT RACIAL PREFERENCE?
YES! - Justice Brennan
NO! - Justice Rehnquist


III.
GRIGGS v. Duke Power Co. (1971)

JOB REQUIREMENTS
AND NONDISCRIMINATION LAW

DOES TITLE VII BAR "NON-ESSENTIAL"
JOB STANDARDS THAT BLACKS
FAIL MORE OFTEN THAN WHITES?
YES! - Justice Burger
NO! - Interspersed Rebuttal *
[Much revised, April 2006]