The Real Voting Rights Threat Is Nullification, Not Access

Linda ChavezVoting Rights

This article originally appeared on TheBulwark on July 8, 2021 Voting rights are alive and well in the United States—but that doesn’t mean we don’t have work to do to ensure they remain so. The 2020 election, held in the middle of a catastrophic pandemic, nonetheless saw higher voter participation rates than any election since 1908. Blacks voted in historically high numbers, especially in eight battleground states, though not quite as high as they did in 2008 and 2012 when the first black president was on the ballot. For the first time, a majority of eligible Hispanic voters also voted …

Keeping up with CEO

Devon WesthillCulture & Society, Keeping Up with CEO

In the early days of the Biden administration, we have already seen a flurry of Executive Orders, memoranda, and concerning subcabinet appointments that point to a very active and radical civil rights agenda. Excesses in these areas has been met with a swift rebuke by CEO and its allies and we will continue to monitor the administration closely as we move past the president’s first 100 days.  As you watch supercharged events unfold in Minnesota and across the country, keep in mind CEO remains the only conservative organization dedicated exclusively to issues of race and ethnicity. The demands by protestors since the death of George Floyd …

Marin County’s Discriminatory ‘Universal Basic Income’

Devon WesthillCulture & Society

Only ‘mothers of color’ will be eligible for payments of $1,000 a month. Some 125 residents in Marin County, Calif., can expect to begin receiving payments of $1,000 a month starting in May—no strings attached. It’s an experiment providing a “universal basic income,” or UBI, to low-income Americans. In conjunction with the Marin Community Foundation, which plans to contribute $3 million to the effort, the Marin County Board of Supervisors has allocated $400,000 in public funds for the experiment. The program is similar to one recently completed in Stockton, Calif., but one major difference sets the Marin experiment apart: race …

Why Did California’s Prop 16 Fail? A County-by-County Assessment

Althea NagaiEducation

By a margin of 57% to 43%, California voters in 2020 rejected Proposition 16, which would have allowed the state and local governments to use race and gender as factors in public college admissions, government jobs, and state and local contracting. This essay, based on two research papers for the Center for Equal Opportunity, shows how widespread the rejection was. Background Back in 1996, voters passed Prop 209, which prohibited the use of race, ethnicity, and gender in government jobs, government contracts, and public higher education. Back then, whites were the majority, and Prop 209 won with 55% of the vote. The prohibition was …

When Academic Achievement Means ‘Acting White’

Devon WesthillCulture & Society

National studies consistently find disparities between black students, especially black boys, and their peers in reading, mathematics, and other core academic subjects. Still other studies show these disparities follow black males into college. That is, notwithstanding the many root issues of these gaps, black males on average are failing to get to the right answer more often than their peers. A new method of teaching threatens to supercharge this reality. The Oregon Department of Education released a bulletin last month informing math teachers of a course available to those who are “looking for a deeper dive into equity work.” In an essay titled “Why Math …

CEO Welcomes Devon Westhill as New President and General Counsel

Center for Equal OpportunityPress Releases

(Falls Church, VA) On January 21, 2021, the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) welcomed Devon Westhill as its new president and general counsel. Immediately prior to his selection as president and general counsel of CEO, Westhill served as the top civil rights official at the United States Department of Agriculture. Westhill began his legal career as a criminal trial lawyer in Florida where his practice included defending clients accused of criminal offenses and university conduct violations, and those subjected to civil asset forfeiture. Westhill has also worked at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Federalist Society and the United States Department of Labor …

CEO Files Amicus Brief in Donor-Disclosure Case

Devon WesthillCulture & Society

The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) has filed an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court of the United States supporting petitioners in the case of Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra. The case involves a challenge to California’s forced-disclosure requirement of nonprofit donors. The ability of CEO—and other nonprofits across the ideological spectrum—to find support from donors who wish to remain anonymous is critical. In brief, California requires charities that seek donations in the state to register with the California Attorney General’s Office and renew that registration every year. Starting in 2010, the Attorney General demanded that thousands of …

Pervasive Preferences 2.0

Althea NagaiDocuments, Education

Years ago, Robert Lerner and I produced many studies of racial and ethnic preferences in public higher education for the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO). In 2001, we summarized these individual statistical reports in “Pervasive Preferences.” This report, “Pervasive Preferences 2.0,” is a statistical compilation of the undergraduate and law school reports that I’ve done since Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). Part I covers preferences in undergraduate admissions. Part II summarizes the findings of preferences in law school admissions. Related posts: Good Briefs in the Harvard Case Politicized external review panels as unguided “diversity” missiles: California university administrators remain ultra-slow learners …

Campus Diversity and Student Discontent: The Costs of Race and Ethnic Preferences in College Admissions

Althea NagaiDocuments, Racial Preferences

Read now [PDF]: Campus Diversity and Student Discontent: The Costs of Race and Ethnic Preferences in College Admissions The Supreme Court has declared that campus diversity creates numerous education benefits and that race could be used as a factor in pursuit of diversity. As a result, many colleges and universities pass over white and Asian American applicants with better academic preparation, favoring blacks and (to a lesser extent) Hispanics. Research shows however that racial preference policies create a mismatch of academic qualifications between minorities receiving preferences and the rest of their entering class, and the academic disparities continue throughout college. Especially in the …

CEO Condemns Racial Preferences in Oregon Covid-19 Vaccine Access

Linda ChavezRacial Preferences

(Falls Church, VA) – The Center for Equal Opportunity denounces a recommendation by the vaccine advisory committee (committee) of the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to allow some residents to skip others in line for the COVID-19 vaccine, based solely on the color of their skin. This preferential treatment based on race would be both unconstitutional and simply odious. On January 14th, the OHA committee recommended prioritizing COVID-19 vaccines for: “Historically underserved communities of color (especially Black/African American/African Immigrant, Hispanic/Latino/a/x and Pacific Islanders) and Indigenous, Tribal and urban based American Indian/Alaska Natives. In short, the people who experience the impacts of …