Dear friends, We have much to celebrate this Independence Day. From the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act to the 1st anniversary of the monumental Students for Fair Admissions Supreme Court decisions. We at CEO are overjoyed at the continued wins we are notching for colorblind equal opportunity in America. Many of them, however, are not as flashy as the passage of major civil rights legislation or a Supreme Court win but can be just as important. And, for 30 years now, CEO has been a major contributor to the fight to stop identitarian division anywhere we find it. …
Peter Abernathy joins CEO as Visiting Legal Fellow
The Center for Equal Opportunity is excited to welcome back to the team Peter Abernathy as Visiting Legal Fellow. Peter returns to CEO after participating in CEO’s inaugural Civil Rights Fellowship in 2022. Peter is a 2024 graduate of George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School and currently serving as a law clerk to the Hon. Caroll A. Weimer of the Thirty-First Circuit Court of Virginia. Before college, Peter served for two years as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Londrina, Brazil. After concluding his full-time missionary service, Peter earned dual degrees in Geospatial …
Support CEO on #GivingTuesday
Dear friends, Today is Giving Tuesday and this has been the most important year in the more than quarter-century history of the Center for Equal Opportunity. As we continue our work opposing race-based policies by public institutions at all levels, we are asking for your help again. But first let me tell you about some of what we’ve been up to. As you know, the milestone Supreme Court affirmative action cases SFFA vs Harvard and SFFA vs North Carolina officially made illegal and unconstitutional the use of race in college admissions. This was a signature win for CEO and the most important …
Keeping Up with CEO
Dear friends, Before updating you on our recent activities, we’d like to express that we share with many of you our anger and sorrow over the horrific terrorist attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas. As many student groups and morally bankrupt campus leaders here at home rush to blame the victims of the terror attack and spread antisemitic propaganda, it’s important to state with no ambiguity that the Center for Equal Opportunity fully supports the nation of Israel and its right to defend itself from these barbaric acts of terrorism. Here’s our latest: STUDY ON RACIAL AND ETHNIC PREFERENCES AT …
Terry Eastland, R.I.P.
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, …
Where there’s smoke, there’s CEO fire
Dear friends, The smoke in the skies above Washington, D.C. and across the east coast recently did not actually come from the Center for Equal Opportunity. But you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise. CEO continues its hot streak of five major research reports on race issues, five Supreme Court amicus briefs opposing race preferences, testimony before Congress and executive branch agencies, in addition to speeches, op-eds, podcasts, and media interviews. We are also preparing for our second annual Civil Rights Fellowship program to train the next generation of legal professionals, drawing students from some of the nation’s top …
CEO welcomes newest members to the team
Anthony Pericolo is CEO’s first Visiting Legal Fellow. He was also a fellow in CEO’s inaugural 2022 Civil Rights Fellowship. Anthony is a 2023 graduate of Harvard Law School and a patent litigator in Washington, D.C. Before law school, Anthony earned dual degrees in economics and electrical and computer engineering from the University of Rochester. Besides his appreciation for intellectual property law, Anthony is passionate about civil rights work. He grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, and is the son of Italian immigrants. He learned the value of hard work and equal opportunity through his family, who came to the …
Keeping up with CEO
Dear CEO supporters, March Madness is upon us and the Ides of March bode well for the Center for Equal Opportunity as we continue our relentless battle against race-based policies and discrimination. Here’s our latest: CEO Accepting Applications for Civil Rights Fellowship Last month, CEO announced the launch of its 2023 Civil Rights Fellowship. Applications are now being accepted on our website. The program, which will take place between August 7-11, 2023 in Washington, D.C, is intended for law students with an interest in a career in a public, private, or nonprofit setting where their instruction and training can be shared with …
Happy New Year from CEO
Dear friends, Happy New Year from the Center for Equal Opportunity! 2022 was CEO’s 27th year fighting for colorblind equal opportunity and nondiscrimination in America. And while much of D.C. was on break for the holidays, December was one of our busiest months. Here’s our latest: TESTIFYING BEFORE CONGRESS CEO staff often present expert testimony on issues of race and ethnicity before local, state, and federal executive and legislative bodies. In December, CEO president and general counsel Devon Westhill was invited to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The hearing was titled: Fairness in …
Support CEO on Giving Tuesday
Dear CEO friends, As you may already know, today is “Giving Tuesday.” The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) is the only organization in America dedicated to fighting against race-based public policy 24/7, and we are enjoying one of our busiest years yet. But before I ask for your continued support, I wanted to share with you just a few highlights of our work this past year. The Center for Equal Opportunity is the nation’s only conservative civil rights organization doing this kind of work. And we are asking for your help again today on “Giving Tuesday.” Our work over the years would …