Constitutional Vanguard: Should Ketanji Brown Jackson Recuse Herself from the Harvard Affirmative Action Case?
Barring a shocking development, Ketanji Brown Jackson is going to be a Supreme Court justice. She has also been a member of the Board of Overseers at Harvard. Will she have to recuse herself from the upcoming case in which Asian plaintiffs challenge the university’s admissions practices as racially discriminatory? And do those plaintiffs have a good case? These are the topics discussed in my latest newsletter.
In the post, I try to dive beyond the Big Media practice of consulting experts with differing opinions, which sheds little light on the relevant law or historical practice. I also offer my own opinion on the issue.
Excerpt, from the portion discussing the merits of the case:
Asians are penalized, especially in the subjective personal ratings, where a racial analysis shows that “the actual ratings reveal a clear racial hierarchy—with African Americans receiving the highest personal ratings, followed by Hispanics, then whites, then Asian Americans coming in last.”
None of this is shocking, although it should be. Every parent who has ever sent a child to college knows in their bones that universities discriminate on the basis of race.
Add to these facts the longstanding hostility of Chief Justice Roberts to racial preferences. Conservatives have come to think of him as the Sultan of Squish, but he is still the same man who famously wrote these words: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” I have no basis to believe he has changed his mind.
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