George Will Nods (Feloniously)

Roger CleggVoting Rights

George Will asks, “What compelling government interest is served by felon disenfranchisement?” Here’s the answer: If you’re not willing to follow the law, then you should not have a role in making the law for everyone else, which is what you do when you vote — either directly (in the case of a referendum or ballot initiative) or indirectly (by choosing lawmakers and law enforcers). Mr. Will says that it “is not a legitimate government objective for elected officials” to “fine-tune the quality of the electorate.” Really? That would mean that not only criminals but also children, non-citizens, and the …

The Nitty Gritty of Diversity

Terry EastlandEducation

How many minority students = a critical mass? That’s a good exam question, but not one that advocates of race preferences in admissions have been able to answer, as I explained below in this article for The Weekly Standard. In 2003 Justice O’Connor said that schools may seek to enroll a “critical mass” of minority students. But she didn’t say what that term required, nor has any other Justice since then. Justice Scalia, ever the great wordsmith, used a dissenting opinion to refer to critical mass as “the mystical critical mass” and “the fabled critical mass.” Good adjectives for a …

The Parable of the Lifeguard

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

There’s an interesting new paper discussed here by Mark Perry at the American Enterprise Institute about an international phenomenon called the “educational-gender-equality paradox — the greater the degree of gender equality among 67 countries studied . . . the lower the female share of STEM college graduates.”  As The Atlantic puts it, “In countries that empower women, they are less likely to choose math and science professions.” It’s about choice, then, not discrimination. I don’t expect this to diminish the incessant politically correct demands for no gender imbalances in the STEM professions (or anywhere else, for that matter), and that if we have to …

US v Metcalf

CEO StaffDocuments

IDENTITY AND INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE The Center for Equal Opportunity (“CEO”) is a research and educational organization formed pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and devoted to issues of race and ethnicity.1 Its fundamental vision is straightforward: America has always been a multiethnic and multiracial nation, and it is becoming even more so. This makes it imperative that our national policies not divide our people according to skin color and national origin. Rather, these policies should emphasize and nurture the principles that unify us. E pluribus unum . . . out of many, one. These principles …

Introduction to the Race & Sex Working Group

CEO StaffUncategorized

Linda Chavez is the Chairman of RTP’s Race & Sex working group and the Center for Equal Opportunity. In this short video, she explains the need for a working group dedicated to examining race and sex regulations “to try to evaluate whether or not those regulations help or harm in our efforts to end discrimination.” Visit our website – https://www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media. Watch Related posts: TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REGARDING THE …

Another Reason to End Preferences

Terry EastlandRacial Preferences

Affirmative action also hurts the ‘beneficiaries.’ Mismatch came out more than five years ago, and I wrote a review of it for The Weekly Standard, which is published below. It explains “mismatch” and shows that if racial preferences have mostly harmful effects for those whom they are meant to help, then “the fundamental legal premise for permitting this type of racial classification is gone.” Neither Rick Sander nor Stuart Taylor, the co-authors, are conservatives. They have been, you could say, mugged by a reality they have carefully studied. Or as they put it, “It is this growing body of evidence that …

The Kerner Commission at 50

Roger CleggUncategorized

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the report by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, better known as the Kerner Commission. This blue-ribbon panel was put together by President Johnson after the summer 1967 Detroit riots to analyze what caused such riots and how to prevent them, and it delivered, predictably, liberal claptrap. There are a couple of new books that use the anniversary as a news hook and lots of newspaper articles about it — some of which I discuss below — so let me offer as a quick antidote this link to a Heritage Foundation panel …

The Return of the New Deal

Terry EastlandUncategorized

For one of LBJ’s advisers, a great society was one in which there would be no poverty, hunger or illiteracy; nor would leisure time be wasted. In February I reviewed for the Wall Street Journal Joshua Zeitz’s insightful book, Building the Great Society. That was LBJ’s big, domestic-side endeavor, which he pursued throughout his five-year presidency. And it led to the use of racial preferences in federal hiring and contracting. The government still pushes for preferential treatment in those areas. But it is past time for the government to get out of the business of counting and hiring by race. …

The Envelope for Bad Employment Advice, Please

Roger CleggUncategorized

In her Oscar acceptance speech Sunday night, Best Actress winner Frances McDormand endorsed “inclusion riders.” I’m not an entertainment-law specialist, but apparently this is a proviso that top actors and actresses are being urged to stick into their contracts which demand “diversity” in the hiring of other employees by the employer. Putting aside whether this is a good idea artistically and morally, I want to point out here that there can be legal problems with it. The devil is in the details, but just to give you the idea: Suppose that a top salesman for a company said that he’ll …

Waiting for the ‘Termination Point’

Terry EastlandEducation

Is the end in sight for race-conscious college admissions? I wrote this piece three years ago for The Weekly Standard. It was basically a “backgrounder” on what were then new challenges to admissions preferences–one brought against Harvard and the other against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There has been some “discovery” in the cases, and seven months ago the Justice Department confirmed that it is considering whether it might enter the Harvard case. We hope that the department decides to get involved—and that it will argue for non-discrimination in admissions. In Grutter v. Bollinger, decided in 2003, Justice Sandra Day …