Government Activity

On May 17, we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. And that is certainly something worth celebrating. The only fly in the ointment is that this event will also prompt many solemn pronouncements that, alas, our schools are just as segregated as ever and/or that they are resegregating. We will be told that therefore the promise of Brown remains unfulfilled, and that this is the reason for continuing racial disparities in education. But this is not true. Here’s the key statistic that must always be borne in mind: The number of segregated …

Here’s the essay I just did this for National Review Online’s “Education Week”: It’s depressing that, nearly six decades after Brown v. Board of Education, the legality and morality of racial discrimination in education continues to be a contested issue. Consider: Last month the Obama administration issued “guidance” for universities on the meaning of the Supreme Court’s decision last June in Fisher v. University of Texas. The guidance predictably reiterates that the administration “strongly support[s] diversity” — including, of course, using discrimination in order to achieve it — but, as a legal matter, this is irrelevant if a school is sued, …

TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL AT AN OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE LEGACY OF THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE BEFORE THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND CIVIL LIBERTIES December 18, 2007Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2141 Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Roger Clegg, and I am president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a nonprofit research and educational organization that is based in Falls Church, Virginia. Our chairman is Linda Chavez, and our focus is on public policy issues that involve …

The Center for Equal Opportunity praised the Supreme Court’s decisions in the Seattle and Louisville school cases today. CEO chairman Linda Chavez said: “Today’s decisions vindicate the principle in Brown v. Board of Education that schoolchildren should not be assigned to schools on the basis of skin color. It is a victory for parents and students of all races.” CEO president and general counsel Roger Clegg said: “As America becomes increasingly a multiracial and multiethnic society, it also becomes more and more untenable to have laws that categorize our people because of race and national origin.” Both Chavez and Clegg …