Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: SFFA vs. UNC & Harvard

Center for Equal OpportunityEducation

On October 31, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College. In perhaps the most anticipated case of this term, the court considers a challenge to the use of racially preferential undergraduate student admissions practices at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Experts broke down the oral argument on the same day, October 31, 2022. Featuring: Prof. Amanda Shanor, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics, The Wharton School Devon Westhill, President and General Counsel, Center for Equal Opportunity Moderator: Curt Levey, President, Committee for Justice …

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 …

On being original: Racial classifications and the fallacy of a certain strain of “progressive originalism”

Devon WesthillCulture & Society

This article is part of a symposium on the upcoming arguments in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College. A preview of the case is here. Devon Westhill is president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity. He submitted an amicus brief supporting Students for Fair Admissions. During her confirmation hearing, Justice Elena Kagan claimed: “We are all originalists.” It might not then come as a surprise to some that the label has been bandied about recently to refer to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. But …

Keeping up with CEO

Rudy GerstenKeeping Up with CEO

Dear CEO supporters, Fall arrived with a flurry of activity, and while the temperature may be dropping, things aren’t cooling down anytime soon at the Center for Equal Opportunity. It’s been another extremely busy period, here’s our latest: CEO CIVIL RIGHTS FELLOWSHIP: A RESOUNDING SUCCESS As you know, we recently hosted a dozen CEO Civil Rights fellows from some of the top law schools in the country for a week of activities and training in Washington, D.C. They received instruction at a series of seminars with many of the best legal and policy minds in the country, media training to …

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 …

WATCH: Devon Westhill Speaks at Federalist Society Supreme Court Preview

Center for Equal OpportunityGovernment Activity

At 12:00 noon ET on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, the Federalist Society’s Faculty Division and Practice Groups will host a panel at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC regarding the upcoming Supreme Court term, which will begin on October 3, 2022. The Court’s docket already includes major cases involving affirmative action, election law, intellectual property, and civil rights. The full list of cases granted thus far for the upcoming term can be viewed on SCOTUSblog. The panel will also discuss broader questions about the direction of the Court. Featuring: – Prof. David D. Cole, National Director of the ACLU – …

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 …

CEO Civil Rights Fellowship Begins

Rudy GerstenGovernment Activity

This week, CEO is hosting a dozen Civil Rights fellows from some of the top law schools in the country for a series of activities and training. The inaugural class is made up of a dozen young men and women, including law students from Harvard, Notre Dame, Marquette, Seton Hall, Brigham Young, Wake Forest, St. Mary’s, George Mason, and the University of Maryland.  The first of its kind program, spearheaded by CEO President and General Counsel Devon Westhill, is taking place here in Washington, D.C. We kicked things off last night with a tour of CEO’s office and a welcome dinner …

Keeping up with CEO

Rudy GerstenKeeping Up with CEO, Uncategorized

Dear CEO supporters, The Center for Equal Opportunity isn’t taking a break during the D.C. doldrums and we want to bring you up to date on our recent and upcoming activities. July turned out to be another busy—and successful—month in CEO’s more than a quarter-of-a-century fight to defend the core principle of equality under law. CEO CIVIL RIGHTS FELLOWSHIP BEGINS Tomorrow, we welcome to D.C. a dozen CEO Civil Rights fellows from some of the top law schools in the country for a week of activities and training. They’ll get instruction at a series of seminars with some of the …