SCOTUS upholds Michigan affirmative action ban

[J. J.]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/supreme-court-michigan-affirmative-action-ban.html?_r=0

6-2 vote, with Ginsburg and Sotomayor dissenting.  Kagan recused herself. 

[krazen1211]

Democracy is on a roll!

Turns out that states don't have to create race-based policies, especially when the voters decide 'hell no!'.

A pity that 2 justices want to flip the Constitution on its head.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The comments to that article about how equal treatment is discriminatory are amusing.

The only reason the Court took this case was because of the split in Circuit rulings it created.  As pointed out in the article, the Ninth way back in 1997 under Coalition for Economic Equity v. Wilson, 122 F.3d 692 (9th Cir. 1997) had upheld measures banning the use of affirmative action by State government.  That the Court then declined to grant cert was an implicit agreement that the Ninth had gotten it right, and the Court certainly has not changed since then in a manner that would make it amenable to the closely divided Sixth Circuit decision.

Combined with other rulings, this one upholds the status quo of Gruttner that “classifications are constitutional only if they are narrowly tailored to further compelling governmental interests” but that governments are not obligated to construct such classifications nor are they barred from making it more difficult to construct them.

[NewYorkExpress]

Given the way the current court comports itself, I'm surprised they didn't go further and overturn Grutter v. Bollinger. This is probably the minimum of what the Roberts court could do.

Also, given the number of cases Kagan has dissented on, she's starting to look like a bad pick.

[bedstuy]

I think the majority got it right. 

Given the way the current court comports itself, I'm surprised they didn't go further and overturn Grutter v. Bollinger. This is probably the minimum of what the Roberts court could do.

Also, given the number of cases Kagan has dissented on, she's starting to look like a bad pick.

That wasn't before the court.  They can't just make sua sponte constitutional rulings because it touches the same issue.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Also, given the number of cases Kagan has dissented on, she's starting to look like a bad pick.

...can you read?

[SteveRogers]

Also, given the number of cases Kagan has dissented on, she's starting to look like a bad pick.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Also, given the number of cases Kagan has dissented on, she's starting to look like a bad pick.

I think he meant recused.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Also, given the number of cases Kagan has dissented on, she's starting to look like a bad pick.

I think he meant recused.

He knows why justices sometimes recuse themselves, right?

[Potatoe]

Wait, Michigan banned Affirmative Action? WAT

[muon2]

Wait, Michigan banned Affirmative Action? WAT

by statewide referendum for use in admissions to public universities.

[NewYorkExpress]

Also, given the number of cases Kagan has dissented on, she's starting to look like a bad pick.

I think he meant recused.

He knows why justices sometimes recuse themselves, right?

Well, if President Obama had anyone other than his Solictor General, we probably wouldn't be having this many recusals...

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The recusals are a temporary problem, and I can't think of any case that has ended up 4-4 with Kagan having recused herself, so it hasn't really been a problem.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I can't see any argument that Affirmative Action is a federally mandated constitutional right. As such, states should have the right to employ it or not employ it. This was the right decision.

[Lief 🗽]

Majority of Supreme Court justices continue to have no idea how racism works. Hopefully Obama and Clinton can put a few more wise Latinas on the court who actually understand the real world.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

As a Hispanic applying to colleges this summer/fall I admit I'm kind of worried.

[Never]

As a Hispanic applying to colleges this summer/fall I admit I'm kind of worried.

Snowstalker, I am not Hispanic, but I think that I can understand why you are worried, and I wish you the best as you begin your college application process. I hope that you are treated with fairness every step of the way.

Personally, I think that the concept of color-blind admissions will not work just yet. For one, even if you never have to identify your ancestry, if you have an ethnic surname (mainly if you are Asian or Hispanic), then couldn't college admissions officers still determine your race? That might be a good or bad thing, or it might not have any impact whatsoever. While I like the concept of not having to consider race in the college admissions process, I somewhat sympathized with Justice Sotomayor's dissent, because it is true that racism still exists in America. On the other hand, I don't think that America will always need affirmative action, which Sotomayor seemed to imply. In the back of my mind is Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's view in 2003 that it would be another 25 years before America did not really need affirmative action. 2028 is a bit far off in the future, but I think that by then one could confidently say that affirmative action will not be necessary to insure that minorities are considered solely based on their merit.

For the most part, I think that the SCOTUS majority made a good ruling; it wasn't perfect, but if I were on the Court, I probably would have voted in favor of it.

[Maxwell]

Also, given the number of cases Kagan has dissented on, she's starting to look like a bad pick.

...can you read?

NYE hasn't given me any evidence of literacy or intelligence. Not one bit.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Also, given the number of cases Kagan has dissented on, she's starting to look like a bad pick.

I think he meant recused.

She's young, give it 5 years or so, and she'll hardly ever have to recuse herself anymore; I can't find any easily available statistics, but I'd have to imagine Thurgood Marshall had a decent number of recusals in his early ears on the Court as well, and he turned out fine in the long run.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Apparently Justice Marshall recused himself from 98 of the 171 cases (57%) during the 1967-1968 term, for those who care.

[The Dowager Mod]

I am so glad my kids are white males....

[politicallefty]

Wait, Michigan banned Affirmative Action? WAT

by statewide referendum for use in admissions to public universities.

Indeed, and California was the first state to do so by ballot initiative in 1996.

This case really didn't have much to do with the merits of affirmative action. It had to do with the so-called "political process doctrine". I think the decision was absolutely correct in its outcome. As much as I like Justice Sotomayor, the dissent arguing that the Constitution forbids banning affirmative action (and in effect, mandating affirmative action) just doesn't make any sense. Even Justice Breyer jumped ship on this one, stating that the Constitution neither forbids nor requires race-based affirmative action. Based on the actual text of the Constitution, I'm pretty much in agreement with Justice Scalia's concurrence. As he notes:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

OConner CRT was right in 2003 and the Kennedy CRT is wrong on this one as well as the NRA issue that Justice Kennedy was the balance on.

This issue will be revisited in 2016. In which future prez will be picking Scalia,Kennedy, and Ginnsburg replacement by 2025. As well it will influence the 2014 senate and gubernatorial elections

Mend it don't end it policy means that basing a admittance based purely on race is forbidden under quotas. But means testing the candidate's race with other conditions like social class in accordance with the geography of the candidate is accordance with the law.

[Frodo]

Strongly support the decision -that said, proponents of race-based affirmative action policies do have a point that if we are going to strip out race and ethnicity from admissions consideration, it is only fair to extend that to legacy preferences too.

[CatoMinor]

College admission based on merit =/= Jim Crow people.....