Is your pollution politically correct and racially balanced?

Roger CleggUncategorized

Last Friday I was invited to testify before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding “environmental justice”—the peculiar idea that the legality of pollution should hinge in part on whether its victims are white or not.  There were several panels and the event lasted all day, but I was one of the very few conservatives who spoke.  Below is my slightly condensed testimony, with which the left-leaning Commission was not happy. Introduction Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Roger Clegg, and I am president and general counsel of the Center for …

Gov. Hogan

Hang in There, Governor Hogan

Roger CleggVoting Rights

The Maryland state legislature is back in session, and the Democrats have announced that one of their priorities is overriding Governor Larry Hogan’s veto last year of a bill that would automatically re-enfranchise felons when they are released from prison, even if they are still on parole or probation (Maryland already automatically re-enfranchises felons once they are no longer on probation or parole). Governor Hogan is adamant that this is a bad bill. And Governor Hogan is right, so here’s hoping that the scheduled veto-override effort fails in the state senate this week (alas, the override passed the house last month, with …

Answering Linda Greenhouse’s Question

Roger CleggEducation

Linda Greenhouse recently had a meandering New York Times column about Fisher v. University of Texas – in which  the Supreme Court is considering a challenge to racial and ethnic preferences in student admissions –  in which she unhappily concedes that the “diversity” rationale is the only way that universities can legally justify their use of such preferences. And she poses the core question that follows this way: “If diversity is the only acceptable rationale for taking account of race, as the court insists, then what is the rationale for diversity?” Luckily (or unluckily) for her, I answered this question …

Unkingly Discrimination

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

As  Americans honor the memory and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is sobering to see how far many of our public entities have strayed from Dr. King’s important message about equality. A case in which the Center for Equal Opportunity joined and helped write an amicus brief this month makes that sad point very well. So entrenched have racial preferences become that, last March, a federal judge tossed out a case against government-mandated discrimination, Midwest Fence v. United States Department of Transportation. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral argument in an appeal …

The New York Times Slams Racial Preferences

Roger CleggUncategorized

Not on purpose, of course, but bear with me.  Last week there was a long, front-page story in the New York Times, showcasing the success that the University of Michigan has had in achieving student-body “diversity” without the use of racial admission preferences. On the article, three observations. First, the obvious point is that this is bad news for the University of Texas in the Fisher case, since it shows that such preferences are not “narrowly tailored” to the achievement of student-body diversity. (Whether schools ought to be trying to achieve student bodies of a predetermined racial and ethnic mix at all …

“It’s a Wonderful Country”: Happy New Year from the Center for Equal Opportunity!

Roger CleggUncategorized

Over the holidays, you may have had the chance to watch one of my favorite movies, It’s a Wonderful Life.  Over a decade ago, that movie — along with the endless drumbeat of anti-America nonsense we always hear in every season both at home and abroad and which unfortunately does not seem to be diminishing these days — prompted me to write this column for National Review Online.  I hope you enjoy it, and all the best from me and the Center for Equal Opportunity.  Happy New Year! It’s a Wonderful Country A contemporary Christmas carol. Well, Clarence, we’ve got …

UT President Bill Powers speaks with media after U.S. Supreme Court hearing.Photo: Paul Fetters.

Fisher v. University of Texas Wrap-Up – Whew!

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

It’s been a busy last couple of weeks for us here at the Center for Equal Opportunity, with the oral argument before the Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas and all the media coverage before and after.  In our email this week, I’ll be focusing on some of what we’ve written — most of what you’ll read below is “truth squad” work that first appeared on National Review Online — and said about the case, which involves a challenge to that school’s use of racial and ethnic preferences in undergraduate admissions. A Vehement Agreement with Chief Justice Roberts …

CEO President Roger Clegg debates Scalia's comments on affirmative action

CEO President Roger Clegg debates Justice Scalia’s comments on affirmative action

CEO StaffRacial Preferences

http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry/watch/debating-scalias-comments-on-affirmative-action-585279555618 Related posts: Fisher v. University of Texas Wrap-Up – Whew! Good News: Trump Rescinds Obama’s “Affirmative Action” Guidance Affirmative Action, Here and There and Everywhere 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

Fearless Predictions on How Racial Preferences Will End

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

Loyal supporters of the Center for Equal Opportunity know that we don’t like racial preferences in university admissions (a.k.a. “affirmative action”). For example, they can read here and here how I’ve urged the Supreme Court to rule in Fisher v. University of Texas, where we have played a leading role and in which that practice is challenged.  They should also make generous year-end donations to the Center for Equal Opportunity, because I’m pretty sure the Supreme Court has already mandated that. This week, however, rather than discuss what the Court should do, I thought I would discuss in broad terms …

Abigail Fisher waits to speak to reporters at the Supreme Court

Fisher and the Protestors

Roger CleggUncategorized

For my email this week, I thought I would share with you this lightly edited version of an op-ed that Joshua Thompson (of Pacific Legal Foundation) and I wrote for Forbes.  Josh and I also wrote an amicus brief for the Supreme Court in this case. This week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, in which that school’s use of racial preferences in undergraduate admissions has been challenged. Some may speculate that the recent protests over racial issues, at the University of Missouri and elsewhere, might deter the justices from issuing …