PRESS RELEASE: Supreme Court Hears Argument in Harvard and UNC Cases

Center for Equal OpportunityEducation, Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Devon Westhill(904) 683-6060 (Washington, D.C) This morning, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear from the lawyers arguing on both sides of the race preferences cases SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC. The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) and our staff helped write and then joined six amicus briefs in these cases urging the Supreme Court to take the cases and to overturn Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) which permitted the use of race in college admissions for the supposedly compelling benefits of campus racial diversity. Our briefs argued that race preferences are unconstitutional and …

Harvard must end its race-centered selection process

Center for Equal OpportunityRacial Preferences

This post originally appeared in the Washington Times We are regressing back to a world where the color of your skin determines your personal qualities As long as Harvard practices affirmative action, applicants seriously seeking admission should submit DNA tests to move their applications down to the JV league. Admissions officers could distinguish those among a competitive pool of over 61,000 by drops of blood, rather than by what the applicants have accomplished during their young lives.   To give its admissions practices a semblance of empiricism, Harvard scores applicants in three categories: Academics, extracurriculars, and character. Those with the …

Litigation Update: Faust v. Vilsack – Race Discrimination in the American Rescue Plan

Center for Equal OpportunityRacial Preferences

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging allegedly unconstitutional race discrimination in the American Rescue Plan’s provision to offer loan forgiveness based on racial categories. The plaintiffs are twelve farmers and ranchers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Oregon, and Kentucky. Each plaintiff would be eligible for the federal loan forgiveness program, but for their race. In response, U.S. District Judge William Griesbach issued a temporary restraining order on June 10, 2021 halting payments. Other cases subsequently resulted in similar orders. These lawsuits challenge the extent to which the …

Devon Westhill Explains Why Affirmative Action Is BAD For Black People

Center for Equal OpportunityRacial Preferences

Related posts: CEO Welcomes Devon Westhill as New President and General Counsel Devon Westhill testifies before Congress Opening Statement of Devon Westhill House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties The Justice Department Is Rethinking Affirmative Action—That’s a Good Thing

Affirmative Action Reconsidered

Center for Equal OpportunityRacial Preferences

Related posts: Affirmative Action Questions for the Candidates Illegal Labor Department Affirmative-Action Regulations The Justice Department Is Rethinking Affirmative Action—That’s a Good Thing Woody Allen and Affirmative Action

FILED: Two Briefs in Supreme Court Affirmative Action Cases

Devon WesthillEducation

Dear friends, I am pleased to report to you that CEO has once again assisted in crafting and joined a Supreme Court amicus brief filed by our friends at the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF). As a former civil rights government official, I also joined a brief filed by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). The briefs can be viewed by following the links provided in the “Merits-Stage Amicus Briefs” section below. Both briefs support petitioners in the case of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard/University of North Carolina in their challenge to the schools’ use of racial preferences in …

Blacks, Hispanics, Asians oppose race preferences in college admissions

Center for Equal OpportunityDocuments, Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Contact: Rudy GerstenWednesday April 6, 2022(703) 442-0066 (Falls Church, VA) Today, the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) released a new report on attitudes towards racial preferences in college admissions. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in University of California Regents v. Bakke (1978), the use of race as a factor in college admissions has roiled public opinion. Dr. Althea Nagai, Senior Research Fellow at CEO, examines data from a recent Pew Research Center survey on racial and ethnic issues that shows considerable discomfort with using race to determine who should be admitted to college. Overwhelmingly, Americans of …

Opening Statement of Devon Westhill House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties

Center for Equal OpportunityEducation

Opening Statement of Devon WesthillPresident and General CounselCenter for Equal Opportunity House Committee on the JudiciarySubcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Hearing of March 1, 2022 – Discrimination and the Civil Rights of the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian American Communities Chair Cohen, Ranking Member Johnson, and distinguished Members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to provide my testimony on “Discrimination and the Civil Rights of the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian American Communities.” My name is Devon Westhill and I am the president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity. CEO is …

Litigation Update: Investigating Title VI and Title IX Complaints

Center for Equal OpportunityRacial Preferences

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 supplemented Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include, in addition to barring discrimination on the ground of race, color, or national origin, sex as a protected class in federally funded education programs or activities. The purpose of enacting Title IX was to ensure that everyone, regardless of sex, would enjoy a discrimination-free educational experience. In the years since their enactment, observers have accused colleges and universities of violating Titles VI and IX in various ways. Many Title IX concerns have involved single-sex, female-only programs, scholarships, awards, fellowships, camps, …