Colleges Created a Diversity Box-Ticking Game—Zohran Mamdani Just Played It
The big problem here is the elite racism of college admissions departments, not the mayoral candidate's creative box-checking.
Affirmative Action
John McWhorter: Is 'Wokeness' Finally Dead?
New York Times columnist and linguist John McWhorter discusses the rise and fall of "woke," DEI and affirmative action, and his new book on the history of pronouns.
Education Department Orders Schools To Stop All Racial Discrimination
The letter mostly builds on existing civil rights law.
How Do Board Diversity Mandates Affect Firm Value?
A new study suggests California's ill-fated board diversity requirements did not enhance firm value.
Illinois Scholarship Program Explicitly Excludes White Applicants
The Minority Teachers for Illinois Scholarship Program is blatantly unconstitutional.
Second Circuit Rules Intent To Racially Balance NY High Schools Is Unconstitutional
Judge Joseph Bianco’s decision emphasizes that constitutional rights and protections belong to individuals, not groups.
Was the Federal Government's Defense of Race-Based Debt Relief for Farmers and Ranchers "Substantially Justified"?
An interesting question divides a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Debating Legacy Preferences in College Admissions
Sociologist Roderick Graham and I debated this issue at the Divided We Fall website.
Does Anonymity Defeat Associational Standing?
The Second Circuit divides over whether an association must identify an injured member by name for the purposes of Article III. (Updated)
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Case Involving Use of Race-Neutral Means to Facilitate Anti-Asian Discrimination at Selective Public High School
Justice Alito wrote a strong dissent to denial of certiorari. The issues the case raises are likely to recur. In the meantime, the lower court ruling in the case sets a dangerous precedent.
Sandra Day O'Connor, RIP
She was the first woman Supreme Court justice, and played a key role in changing the Court's jurisprudence for the better on several issues.
Challenge to NYU Law Review's Race and Sex Preferences May Proceed Pseudonymously, at Least for Now
[UPDATE: Added a brief discussion of pseudonymity and class actions.]
Coleman Hughes: The End of Race Politics?
The author of The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America says colorblindness should remain our North Star during a live conversation with Nick Gillespie.
The End of Race Politics
A Q&A with Coleman Hughes, author of The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America.
How Affirmative Action Lost at the Supreme Court
Preferential college admissions violated the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
New College of Florida Embraces Affirmative Action for Men
In an attempt to make the student body more conservative, Christopher Rufo says the school is actively "rebalancing" the ratio of male and female students.
Immigration Restrictions as Affirmative Action for Natives
Cato Institute immigration policy expert Alex Nowrasteh explains the close parallels between a policy most conservatives hate, and one most them reflexively support.
A Flawed "Popular Constitutionalist" Rationale for Disobeying Supreme Court Decisions
Harvard law Prof. Mark Tushnet and political scientist Aaron Belkin urge President Biden to disobey "gravely mistaken" Supreme Court rulings. Doing so would set a dangerous precedent likely to be abused by the right, as well as the left.
Debating the Legacy of Justice John Marshall Harlan
A critical column by Jamelle Bouie prompts an extensive reply from Peter Canellos.
Legacy Preferences, Citizenship, Migration, and the Implications of a Constitutional Ban on Hereditary Privilege
Some scholars and commentators argue that legacy preferences at public universities are unconstitutional because they are a form of hereditary privilege. If so, the same is likely true of the far more consequential hereditary privilege of citizenship that severely restricts the right to live and work in the United States.
Affirmative Action Is Racist and Therefore Wrong
If activists want to help young people, they should start before college.
Coleman Hughes and Walter Olson: The Supreme Court Got Its Affirmative Action and Gay Website Cases Right
Contra Joe Biden, they argue that these recent rulings show respect for individual rights and concern for racial and sexual minorities.
NYC Lawyer Dmitriy Shakhnevich Interviews Me on Wide Range of Law and Policy Issues
Topics covered include affirmative action, legacy preferences, the student loan forgiveness decision, refugee policy, indictments against Trump, Vladimir Putin, political ignorance, and more.
My New Washington Examiner Article on the Supreme Court's Ruling on Racial Preferences in College Admissions
The article assesses strengths and weaknesses of the Court's decision, and what it will take to implement Chief Justice Roberts' admonition that "[e]liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it."
What it Will Take to Make Government Color-Blind
Achieving this goal will require a lot more than banning racial preferences in college admissions. That includes some measures that will make the political right uncomfortable, as well as the left.
Did the Supreme Court Roll Back Gay Rights and Civil Rights?
Join Reason on YouTube and Facebook Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern for a live discussion of the Court's recent rulings on affirmative action and same-sex wedding services.
Three Cheers for the Supreme Court
Plus: A listener question on the potential efficacy of congressional term limits.
Thoughts on the Supreme Court's Ruling in the Harvard and UNC Racial Preferences Cases
A preliminary assessment of today's decisions. The majority rightly struck a blow against the use of racial preferences for purposes of advancing "diversity" in education. But there are some flaws in its reasoning.
Of Course Legacy Admissions Should Follow Affirmative Action to the Grave
There is no reason for public universities to grant preferential treatment to the scions of their alumni.
Supreme Court on Affirmative Action: 'Eliminating Racial Discrimination Means Eliminating All of It'
In a 6–3 decision, the Court ruled that race-based affirmative action in college admissions violates the 14th Amendment.
The Unsurprising Affirmative Action Decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard
The Court's core ruling is unsurprising, but its future effects are uncertain.
How America's Growing Diversity Weakens the Case for Racial Preferences in Education
Affirmative action becomes harder to defend when it entails discrimination against a variety of racial and ethnic minority groups.
Does a Footnote in Sackett II Indicate How SCOTUS Will Resolve the Affirmative Action Cases?
Could the Court treat Justice Powell's Bakke opinion the way it treated Justice Kennedy's Rapanos opinion?
Fourth Circuit Ruling in Anti-Asian Discrimination Case Sets a Dangerous Precedent
The decision sets a dangerous precedent licensing the use of facially neutral policies to discriminate against minorities in various contexts.
Neil Gorsuch's LGBT Decision May Doom Affirmative Action in the Supreme Court
Why isn’t affirmative action in college admissions prohibited under the Civil Rights Act?
Yet Another Shady, Hypocritical Document Hoarder
Plus: The editors field a listener question on college admissions and affirmative action.
Time To End Affirmative Action? Live With David Bernstein and Kenny Xu
The authors will join Reason on Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern to discuss the Supreme Court cases alleging unlawful discrimination against Asian Americans by Harvard and the University of North Carolina.
How a Gorsuch LGBT Ruling May Doom Affirmative Action in College Admissions
The link between Bostock v. Clayton County and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina
The Originalist Debate About Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court grapples with the original meaning of the 14th Amendment in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina.
