{"id":1498899,"date":"2022-05-31T19:29:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T23:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1498899"},"modified":"2022-05-31T19:29:43","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T23:29:43","slug":"is-affirmative-action-next-for-scotus-heres-how-it-could-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-affirmative-action-next-for-scotus-heres-how-it-could-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Affirmative Action Next For SCOTUS? Here\u2019s How It Could Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fis-affirmative-action-next-for-scotus-heres-how-it-could-happen%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1498899&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><b>The Supreme Court is considering a case challenging the affirmative action practices of Harvard and the University of North Carolina, and justices could potentially strike down the practice.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>Legal experts told The Daily Caller News Foundation justices could end affirmative action by deeming it unconstitutional or by applying existing civil rights law.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cThe Constitution demands that the government treat individuals as individuals and not as members of arbitrary racial groups,\u201d one attorney told TheDCNF.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Supreme Court is currently considering a case challenging the consideration of race in college admissions, and amicus briefs filed by plaintiffs reveal how the court could rule.<\/p>\n<p>The court will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/01\/24\/supreme-court-affirmative-action-harvard-unc-00001236\">decide<\/a> whether admissions programs that <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/02\/25\/thomas-jefferson-top-public-school-discriminated-asian-students-admissions-process-judge-rules\/\">consider race<\/a>\u00a0at <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/03\/23\/ketanji-brown-jackson-recusal-harvard-affirmative-action\/\">Harvard<\/a> University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) are lawful in <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/02\/25\/students-for-fair-admissions-harvard-lawsuit-supreme-court-ban-race-college-admissions\/\">Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard<\/a>, in which the plaintiffs allege Harvard\u2019s admissions racially discriminate against Asian Americans, during its 2022-2023 term. Justices could potentially overturn court precedent by ruling that such affirmative action programs violate the Fourteenth Amendment or federal civil rights law.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Abortion rights will be gone this term, affirmative action will be gone next term, and today\u2019s Ted Cruz decision suggests campaign finance caps could be gone soon enough, as Kagan hints at in the dissent: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/y7OHKh7fDF\">https:\/\/t.co\/y7OHKh7fDF<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VZsuR5yDeL\">https:\/\/t.co\/VZsuR5yDeL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ggIQJr2tTI\">pic.twitter.com\/ggIQJr2tTI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mike Sacks (@MikeSacksEsq) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeSacksEsq\/status\/1526214242990424064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 16, 2022<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Dan Morenoff, counsel of record in the American Civil Rights Project\u2019s amicus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americancivilrightsproject.org\/blog\/acr-project-files-with-supreme-court-merits-amicus-brief-on-behalf-of-cfer-foundation-in-sffas-litigation-against-harvard-and-unc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">brief<\/a>, explained arguments justices could use to strike down affirmative action programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The court] could rule that both UNC and Harvard have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through their race-based admissions schemes, either because of the plain meaning of the statute or because the Supreme Court\u2019s case law, for decades, has said that Title VI bars the same racial discrimination by all federal funding recipients that the 14th Amendment bars state governments and their subdivisions from pursuing,\u201d Morenoff told The Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/p>\n<h4>The Constitutional Angle<\/h4>\n<p>Several legal experts said the court should rule affirmative action unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants equal protection under the law regardless of race.<\/p>\n<p>This would mean striking down the admissions programs of Harvard and UNC as unconstitutional because they discriminate without narrowly tailoring their policies to achieve a \u201ccompelling interest\u201d; the policies fail what is known as the \u201cstrict scrutiny\u201d test, according to Morenoff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn no other circumstance besides higher education does the Supreme Court tolerate this sort of overt racial discrimination,\u201d Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at the Liberty Justice Center and counsel of record in an amicus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/20\/20-1199\/222412\/20220503155222988_SFFA%203%20amicus%20FINAL%203A.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">brief<\/a> in support of SFFA, told TheDCNF.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis case is the right time to restore the promise of the Fourteenth Amendment and end racial discrimination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Wen Fa, the counsel of record in Pacific Legal Foundation\u2019s amicus brief, also believed the court could strike down affirmative action on constitutional grounds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Constitution demands that the government treat individuals as individuals and not as members of arbitrary racial groups. Government increases opportunity by tearing down government-imposed barriers to achievement, not by doling out preferences on the basis of race,\u201d Fa told TheDCNF.<\/p>\n<h4>Grutter\u2019s Shortcomings<\/h4>\n<p>The Supreme Court ruled on affirmative action previously in Grutter v. Bollinger, a 2003 decision which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oyez.org\/cases\/2002\/02-241\">held<\/a> that universities\u2019 use of racial preferences in admissions did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment or the Civil Rights Act. Some attorneys argued flaws with the case justified overturning it.<\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>\u201cRace preferences have to be justified by a compelling interest. In\u00a0Grutter, the Court decided that the compelling interest was promotion of the First Amendment: the theory was that \u2018diversity\u2019 would promote a more \u2018robust exchange of ideas\u2019 on campus,\u201d Bradley Benbrook, counsel of record in the amicus brief <a href=\"https:\/\/speechfirst.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-29%20tsac%20Speech%20First%2020-1199%20PDFA%5B2%5D.pdf?_t=1617124851\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">submitted<\/a> by Speech First, told TheDCNF. \u201cThe Court didn\u2019t address the many ways this theory conflicts with other First Amendment principles.\u201d<\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>\u201cBut more important, experience has shown that colleges have massively restricted, rather than enhanced, free speech in the name of \u2018diversity.\u2019 Reality has proved the theory was wrong, which is a classic basis for overruling a prior decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Oklahoma Attorney General John O\u2019Connor and 18 other Republican state attorneys general joined an amicus brief <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/20\/20-1199\/222849\/20220509155246082_OkSFA%20Merits%20Amicus%20MAIN%20May%209%202022%20E%20File.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">urging<\/a> justices to overturn Grutter. They argued that states without affirmative action still have diverse student populations, and that affirmative action discriminated against Asian students.<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/04\/27\/harvard-slavery-report-race-admissions-supreme-court\/\">(RELATED: Harvard\u2019s \u2018Legacies Of Slavery\u2019 Report Openly Brags About The Ivy\u2019s Racist Admissions Policies)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNine states have resisted the temptations of race-based admissions and, often by popular referendum, legally barred universities in their state from engaging in such discrimination. Data from these states \u2026 undermines Grutter\u2019s assumption that diversity cannot be achieved by any other means or only by alternatives that come at an intolerable educational cost,\u201d the amicus brief read.<\/p>\n<h4>An \u2018Elegant Approach\u2019: Civil Rights Law<\/h4>\n<p>One legal expert laid out a simpler solution that wouldn\u2019t require justices to mull over the constitutional questions associated with affirmative action.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan F. Mitchell, author of the Texas Heartbeat Act which banned most abortions at around 6 weeks and has yet to be struck down due to its unique civil enforcement mechanism,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/20\/20-1199\/222871\/20220510094724165_SFFA%20v.%20Harvard%20AFL%20Amicus.pdf\">coauthored<\/a> a brief with Gene P. Hamilton of America First Legal Foundation on the organization\u2019s behalf. The brief argued that the Supreme Court could avoid debating the constitutional question entirely by simply calling for recipients of government funds to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/civil-rights\/for-individuals\/special-topics\/needy-families\/civil-rights-requirements\/index.html#:~:text=Title%20VI%20of%20the%20Civil%20Rights%20Act%20of%201964%2C%2042,or%20other%20Federal%20financial%20assistance.\">which<\/a> \u201cprohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Affirmative action programs such as those used by Harvard and UNC discriminate in violation of Title VI, the brief argued; the court could simply rule that those programs are illegal under existing law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis brief supplies conservative justices with what they may well deem an enticing, elegant approach to dismantling affirmative action,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/23\/us\/politics\/supreme-court-affirmative-action.html\">said<\/a> Justin Driver, a law professor at Yale, according to The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p>By choosing this avenue, justices would establish that existing civil rights law prohibits all racial discrimination by federal funding recipients and would block \u201cracial gamesmanship\u201d in college admissions along with numerous other discriminatory programs, Morenoff told DCNF.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court is considering a case challenging the affirmative action practices of Harvard and the University of North Carolina, and justices could potentially strike down the practice. Legal experts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":1490348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1498899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1498899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1490348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1498899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1498899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1498899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}