Roger Clegg on President Trump’s Executive Orders

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

This article originally appeared on NationalReview.com President Trump today signed three really good executive orders, the common denominator of which is an aversion to decision-making that is race-based rather than merit-based. The first targets the “disparate impact” approach to civil-rights enforcement; the second promises the reinstatement of “common sense school discipline policies”; and the third is aimed at college and university accreditation that has “improperly focused on compelling adoption of discriminatory ideology, rather than on student outcomes.” It’s nice to have the federal government on the right side rather than the wrong side on all this, which it will be now and wasn’t before, as the …

Not DEI but MNO on MLK Day

Roger CleggCulture & Society

This article originally appeared on National Review For starters, I’m not sure we really have to replace DEI with anything. As Ward Connerly once observed, when a surgeon removes a cancer, we don’t insist that it be replaced with something. Still, it seems to be a fact that many people, especially politicians, don’t want to be just against something: They want to be for something, too. And perhaps it’s useful and clarifying for those of us who oppose Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to describe our own, contrasting vision — especially on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Very well: We want …

Terry Eastland, R.I.P.

Roger CleggKeeping Up with CEO

I met Terry Eastland soon after we had both joined the Justice Department during the Reagan administration in the early 1980s, so we were friends for almost exactly four decades. He and I were fellow Texans and appreciated not only Ronald Reagan but Southern cuisine together; to be sure, Terry’s expertise on barbecue in particular was deeper than mine, no doubt helped by the fact that his wife, Jill, was from North Carolina. Terry’s southern roots were manifest in other ways: He was devoted to the Atlanta Braves, and sold encyclopedias and/or Bibles door to door — I forget which, …

Brnovich Amicus Brief

Roger CleggDocuments, Voting Rights

The Center for Equal Opportunity recently joined and helped write amicus briefs urging the Supreme Court to grant review in two cases involving voting rights.  In each we opposed court of appeals decisions that required state and local jurisdictions to engage in politically correct race-based decisionmaking in their voting laws and practices. Brnovich Amicus Brief In addition, in one of these cases, CEO board member and former president and general counsel Roger Clegg had this amicus brief filed on his behalf and others’ in their capacity as former officials of the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division: https://publicinterestlegal.org/files/19-1257-Amicus-Brief.pdf Related …

Re: Is California Backsliding on Racial Preferences?

Roger CleggUncategorized

Peter Kirsanow has written excellent posts here and here and here regarding the pernicious attempt in California to revoke its Proposition 209 so that preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, and sex — a.k.a. affirmative action — can be reinstated in state and local public education, contracting, and employment. I just wanted to add that anyone who wants to sign a petition urging state legislators to vote against this execrable idea may do so here. Related posts: TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT We Need More …

Race, the Coronavirus & a Farewell

Roger CleggCulture & Society, Uncategorized

Two Caveats re Race and the Coronavirus The data are starting to show that the coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on African Americans.  I raise two caveats.   First, beware of using race as a proxy for underlying conditions (various health issues and, a step removed, poverty and geography) that are the real reason for the disparities.   Second, beware of blaming discrimination as the sole or even main cause of these underlying conditions, when there are likely many other causes, often cultural and behavioral. A Study of Little Interest A recent study says it has found that, in states that have banned racial …

Kudos to Idaho! (And to Pete and Gail!)

Roger CleggUncategorized

Kudos to Idaho! A couple of months ago, I flagged a bill that had been introduced in the state legislature there which would ban all discrimination and preference on the basis of race, ethnicity, and sex in public contracting, education, and employment. I’m now happy to report that the bill passed both houses and last week was signed into law by the governor.  Well done!  As I noted in the earlier post, here’s hoping that more states (and the federal government) follow suit. In the meantime, however, Peter Kirsanow has flagged a bill in California that would do exactly the opposite, namely remove the state law …

Woody Allen and Affirmative Action

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

In his recently published memoir, Woody Allen writes:   I’ve taken some criticism over the years that I didn’t use African-Americans in my movies. And while affirmative action can be a fine solution in many instances, it does not work when it comes to casting. I always cast the person who fits the part most believably in my mind’s eye. He’s strictly meritocratic, in other words. As he has said elsewhere: “I cast only what’s right for the part. Race, friendship means nothing to me except who is right for the part.” In light of Mr. Allen’s insistence that, nonetheless, “affirmative …

To Our Supporters

Roger CleggUncategorized

In this week’s email we simply want to express that our prayers are with all of you during this difficult time.     As you know, the Center for Equal Opportunity’s guiding principle is the same as our Nation’s traditional motto:  E pluribus unum — Out of many, one.  Those words seem particularly appropriate now, when all Americans are standing together against a common foe.     We at CEO are doing what we can to help stem the terrible tide, and have temporarily closed our offices.  We are sad to report that our chairman’s family has recently suffered a sad loss. …

Trump Trilogy

Roger CleggUncategorized

I’d like to devote my email this week to reviewing the outcome of three complaints — filed against three different educational entities by the Center for Equal Opportunity with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) — that have been successfully resolved for us during the Trump administration.  Together they cover the waterfront of much politically correct race-based decisionmaking in higher education.  We hope they will encourage others to file similar complaints with OCR. Texas Tech Medical School:  “Diversity” Racial Preferences in Admissions Rejected As a result of a complaint that the Center for Equal Opportunity filed in 2004 (!) against Texas Tech, the medical school there last year …