During the argument of a case on affirmative action at the University of Texas at Austin, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia seemingly suggested it would be better for black students to go to less advanced schools.
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The big question at the heart of the affirmative action case before the Supreme Court, Fisher v. Texas, is whether the university needs to consider race in its admissions process in order to create an environment diverse enough to benefit all students.
This viewpoint by one of the nation’s top judicial voices comes as colleges across America are dealing with high levels of racial incidents and confrontations on campus. “The idea we should be pushing well-qualified African-Americans out of the top universities into lesser schools is unacceptable”. “They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that … they’re being pushed ahead in classes that are too fast for them”. UT Austin admits 75 percent of its students under the top ten percent plan, by which students who rank in the top 10 percent of their high school class are offered automatic admission to the university. The National Conference of State Legislatures states that Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Washington all bar race from being used in college admissions. “Maybe it ought to have fewer”. Fisher alleges that she was denied entry to the school in 2008 because of the university’s affirmative action policies.
“And you had reports of racial isolation and a hostile racial climate with respect to African-Americans and Hispanics – a situation where the University of Texas was clearly not meeting its educational interests, its compelling educational interest in educating the future leaders of Texas”, Garre said.
He also said that “diversity (would) plummet, especially among African Americans”. Only a small percentage of its minority students actually benefit from affirmative action. The University of Texas countered Fisher’s claims by stating her grades were not acceptable for admission.
The move to send the case back to lower court shows that the Supreme Court justices are sharply divided on the case, according to CNN. “We are just arguing the same case, it’s as if nothing has changed”, he said.
“Like most Americans, I don’t believe that students should be treated differently based on their race”, Fisher said to reporters after exiting the Supreme Court Wednesday morning.
Academic heavyweights from Stanford and Ivy League schools also filed a brief, noting “significant” methodological flaws in Sander’s research.
Earlier, inside the court, the proceedings were no less heated, if somewhat more subdued in expression.
Chief Justice John Roberts touched on the issue in a 2013 argument, asking whether the court had to assume that affirmative action programs “definitely are beneficial to particular minority groups”.
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Garre: This court heard and rejected that argument, with respect, Justice Scalia, in the Grutter case, a case that our opponents have and asked this court to overrule.
