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Home Front: Politix

Justice Thomas Unloads on Lawyer Defending Affirmative Action: 'Diversity Seems to Mean Everything for Everyone'

2022-11-01

[NationalReview] Justice Clarence Thomas pressed North Carolina’s solicitor general to explain how the University of North Carolina

...which surely did not expect to find itself behind the eight ball on this...

defines diversity during oral arguments on Monday in a Supreme Court case centered around the use of race as a factor in college admissions.

"I’ve heard the word diversity quite a few times and I don’t have a clue what it means," said Thomas. "It seems to mean everything for everyone."

He certainly would know. His last job before being appointed to the US Supreme Court was as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), appointed by President Reagan in 1982.

Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) has challenged the race-based admissions policies of both Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), accusing both schools of discriminating against Asian-American applicants. The cases were initially merged, but are now being heard separately after Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recused herself from the Harvard case because she had previously served on the university’s board of overseers.

Good for her.

The cases open the door for the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority to reconsider its 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger, which allowed race to be used as a factor in college admissions to achieve student body diversity. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote for the Grutter majority that race should be used as a "plus factor," and argued that such usage does not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
John Riggins: "Hey, Sandy baby, loosen up"
Thomas asked Ryan Park, the North Carolina solicitor general, to offer a specific definition of diversity in the context of UNC and provide a clear idea of what the educational benefits of diversity at the school would be.

"First, we define diversity the way this court has, in its court’s precedents, which means a broadly diverse set of criteria that extends to all different backgrounds and perspectives and not solely limited to race," said Park, before adding that there are "many different diversity factors that are considered as a greater factor in our admissions process than race."

"I didn’t go to racially diverse schools but there were educational benefits," replied Thomas, before again pushing for Park to list specific educational benefits.

Park said that there is a "truth seeking function of learning in a diverse environment," and pointed out that certain studies have found that racially diverse groups of people making stock trading decisions perform at a higher level, and make more efficient trading decisions.

"The mechanism there is it reduces group think and people have longer and more sustained disagreement and that leads to a more efficient outcome," Park explained.

Posted by:Fred

#6 CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Okay. So we’re talking about race as a determining factor in admission to Harvard.

MR. WAXMAN: Race in some –for some highly qualified applicants can be the determinative factor, just as being the –you know, an oboe player in a year in which the Harvard-Radcliffe orchestra needs an oboe player will be the tip.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Yeah. We did not fight a Civil War about oboe players.

Posted by: Deacon Blues 2022-11-01 15:25

#5 Conservative thought is a necessary element of contemporary college life. It is the sole focus of the Two Minute Hate.

Posted by: Super Hose 2022-11-01 12:01

#4 "everything but conservative thought. That's going too far"

Posted by: Frank G 2022-11-01 11:25

#3 "First, we define diversity the way this court has, in its court’s precedents, which means a broadly diverse set of criteria that extends to all different backgrounds and perspectives and not solely limited to race," said Park, before adding that there are "many different diversity factors that are considered as a greater factor in our admissions process than race."

Whoa! He's giving Kamala a run for her money.

Posted by: Matt 2022-11-01 11:05

#2 Diversity is important. Unanimity of thought enforced through censorship is how we protect diversity.

Posted by: Super Hose 2022-11-01 10:47

Posted by: Skidmark 2022-11-01 03:58

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