Category Archive

In a recent civil-rights case, EEOC v. Kaplan Higher Learning Corp., the Obama administration is suing Kaplan for running credit checks on employee applicants.  Kaplan had learned that some of its employees had misappropriated student payments and so, to provide safeguards against this behavior, Kaplan began screening its applicants for major red flags in their credit history. The Obama administration sued Kaplan, arguing that it cannot use credit checks that has a “disparate impact” on black applicants. Related posts: Disparate Impact Insanity The Center for Equal Opportunity on “Disparate Impact” at Cato  Suggested Reading on Civil Rights Issues TESTIMONY OF …

America has always been a multiracial and multiethnic country, and it is getting more so.  Already one in four Americans are something other than “non-Hispanic white,” and the demographers tell us that soon most will be.  Latinos, not blacks, are our largest ethnic minority; Asians are our fastest growing group.  More and more individual Americans are themselves multiracial—starting with our president. Related posts: Should the feds require U.S. ballots to be printed in foreign languages? 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 …

The New England Journal of Medicine has an editorial calling for the Supreme Court to uphold the continued use of racial preferences in university admissions in a case now before it, Fisher v. University of Texas.  But the argument that it puts forward — that racial preferences are justified because we need physicians who can understand their patients — has lots of problems. First, it’s not being asserted by the University of Texas in its case and has never been recognized by the Supreme Court. Second, even if there is some benefit along these lines, the argument ignores the many …

Happy New Year!  Over the holidays, the Center for Equal Opportunity joined and helped write this amicus brief, challenging the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, in a case that will be argued before the Supreme Court next month.   As we explain in the brief, not only is Section 5 outdated and an affront to federalism principles, its principal use now is as a tool to require racially gerrymandered and segregated voting districts — turning the ideals of the civil-rights movement on their head. Related posts: We Need More Black Drug Dealers, Part II Americans Don’t Like …

Well, Clarence, we’ve got another assignment for you, the most difficult since you earned your wings. What’s that, Joseph? Very similar to your last one. Only this time it’s a whole country involved, rather than just one man. It’s the United States. But it’s such a good country! Oh, I agree. But a lot of bad things are said about it nowadays and about its role in history — that it took land from the Indians, and allowed the enslavement of blacks, and mistreated many others, and that it ought to make up for all those wrongs and remedy everything …

I noted in an earlier email that, in the aftermath of the election, much is being made of the nation’s changing demographics.   And I added that, in an increasingly multiracial and multiethnic country, it is simply untenable for our governments and institutions to sort individuals by skin color and what country our ancestors came from, and to treat some better and others worse based on which silly little box is checked. 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 The Center …

Last week the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that Michigan’s Proposal 2 violates the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. Related posts: BAMN! The Center for Equal Opportunity Zaps Racial Preferences Colorblind Law Here’s Linda Chavez on The O’Reilly Factor 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

Two weeks after the election, conservatives are still asking why Mitt Romney lost. That, however, is the wrong first question argues Charles R. Kesler in his new book “I am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism.” We cannot fully understand Romney’s defeat, implies Kelser, until we first understand why conservatives have lost the majority of policy battles over the past 100 years. Despite having won their share of Presidential elections, conservatives have not slowed the advance of the welfare state. Related posts: Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND …

Let’s start with some good news:  On Election Day, Oklahoma passed a ballot initiative banning preferences and discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, and sex in state and local government contracting, employment, and education (including public universities) — a.k.a. affirmative action — by an overwhelming margin, 59 to 41 percent. It joins California, Washington, Michigan, Nebraska, and Arizona — the other states that have passed these measures. Related posts: We Need More Bills Like This 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 …

There may be no single, simple explanation why Mitt Romney lost the election this week — but clearly the perception that the GOP is anti-Hispanic didn’t help. For years, I’ve been warning my fellow conservatives that their position on immigration would be costly, not just politically but for the economy as well. 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 Suggested Reading on Civil Rights Issues Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy The Immigration Impasse