Category Archive

The Regulatory Transparency Project, an initiative of the Federalist Society, will be hosting a panel to release the findings of a new study by the Center for Equal Opportunity: Racial Preferences in Virginia Higher Education.  Media is invited to attend the event.When: Tuesday, September 10, 2019, 12:00 PM Where: The National Press Club, 13th Floor 529 14th St NW Washington, DC 20045 Panelists: Hans Von Spakovsky, Althea Nagai, Todd F. Gaziano Moderator: Linda Chavez RSVP: Erica Nurnberg, enurnberg@crcstrategies.com  Related posts: Mt. Holly and “Disparate Impact” Eastman is wrong: the Constitution does guarantee birthright citizenship Google and Mismatch Hillary Clinton’s Voting-Rights Speech

Last month, the Center for Equal Opportunity weighed in with Nassau County in New York regarding the issue of preferences based on race, ethnicity, and sex in its contracting.  Here’s what we said (and this is typical of what we have said to many state and local jurisdictions over the years): June 22, 2019 To:                   Laura Curran Nassau County Executive From:               Roger Clegg General Counsel, Center for Equal Opportunity Re:                   Proposed disparity study For the legal and policy reasons stated in the attached redacted memorandum, which we sent to another jurisdiction, we urge that the County reconsider whether to …

Does the Constitution permit government officials to discriminate on the basis of race? Courts first reviewed the question more than 100 years ago, and it has been at the heart of the racial admissions cases. The answer is yes, but— meaning the Constitution allows discrimination by government but only on rare occasions. The courts have said that classifying by race—that is, sorting people by race—is “presumptively impermissible.” The courts have also made clear that racial classifications are subject to “strict scrutiny,” the most stringent standard of constitutional review. To satisfy strict scrutiny, a racial classification must be “narrowly tailored” to …

In its investigation of the use of race in admissions at Texas Tech’s five health and science schools, the education department’s Office for Civil Rights found that three never employed it and that a fourth quit considering it a mere 10 years ago. The fifth of the five schools—the School of Medicine—still uses race in admissions but has agreed to stop doing so by the end of the year. The SOM, however, has also said that it retains the option, so to speak, of reviving the use of race. And OCR has confirmed “that an applicant’s race can be used …

I return to the federal probe of Texas Tech, an unusual story in the annals of affirmative action, if only for how long the investigation took. Under the Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Tech, as a recipient of federal funds, may not discriminate on the basis of race and ethnicity in admissions. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights enforces this non-discrimination standard. In 2005 it complained that Tech was using race and ethnicity in its admissions programs. We (the Center for Equal Opportunity) filed the complaint, and now 14 years and three administrations …

The New York Times recently asked me to participate in a debate in its publication Upfront (“The News Magazine for Teens”), on the question, “Should Affirmative Action Be Eliminated?”  I was happy to do so, and focused on the area I thought most likely to grab teens’ attention, namely college admissions.  Here’s what I wrote: Affirmative action is a system that treats school or job applicants differently based on race or ethnicity. That’s called discrimination, and the costs of this kind of discrimination are much higher than any potential benefit. The unfairness of this system is particularly evident in college admissions. …