Saturday - July 02, 2011

Will We Ever Get There?

A divided federal appeals court [ the 6th Circuit ] on Friday struck down Michigan’s controversial ban on consideration of race and gender in college admissions.

The 2-1 panel at the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded the voter-approved ban on “preferential treatment” at state colleges and universities was unconstitutional, and “alters Michigan’s political structure by impermissibly burdening racial minorities.”

The issue is likely to renew the national, political and legal debate over affirmative action, which the Supreme Court could be poised to resolve in the coming months.

The affirmative action ban was passed five years ago in a referendum and was added to the state’s constitution, barring publicly funded centers of higher education from granting “preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.” That prompted a series of lawsuits and appeals from various groups.

The issue comes after the justices in 2003 ruled that while Michigan universities could use race as a factor in choosing which students to admit, they could not make race the determining factor in deciding whether applicants are accepted.

The appeals court has now said the Michigan law violated the Constitution’s equal protection laws.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said today he will appeal a court ruling that overturned the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which bans the use of race and gender preferences in college admissions and government hiring and contracting.

Schuette said he will make a formal request for a rehearing with the appeals court, a move that will keep the civil rights initiative — known as Proposal 2 — in place at least temporarily.

“MCRI embodies the fundamental premise of what America is all about: equal opportunity under the law,” Schuette said in a statement. “Entrance to our great universities must be based upon merit, and I will continue the fight for equality, fairness and rule of law.”

A federal appeals court today overturned Proposal 2, saying the voter-approved measure harms minorities and is unconstitutional.

The 2006 law forced the University of Michigan and other state schools to revise their admission policies. In a 2-1 decision, the judges ruled that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The court in particular objected to the inclusion of the voter-approved ban in the Michigan Constitution in its 59-page ruling.

“Proposal 2 reorders the political process in Michigan to place special burdens on minority interests,” judges R. Guy Cole Jr. and Martha Craig Daughtrey said.

The ban, passed with 58 percent of the vote nearly five years ago, affected government hiring as well as college admissions.

In 2008, a federal judge in Detroit upheld the law, saying it was race-neutral.

Justices Ransey Cole Jr and Martha “Cissy” Daughtery, both Clinton appointees; Reagan appointed judge Julia Gibbons, dissenting

Jennifer Gratz, who headed the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative ballot proposal, said she doesn’t think the ruling is going to stand long term because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled initiatives than ban ran preferences are constitutional.

“To me, this is the epitome of an activist court. These justices held onto this ruling for years and released it the day before the holiday weekend. They were hoping they would catch people off guard and not make the news,” said, Gratz, director of the American Civil Rights Institute, a California-based group that advocates against affirmative action.

Ward Connerly, a former University of California regent who was a major backer of Proposal 2 and California’s similar Proposition 209, said the ruling means the people have no right to govern their own institutions.

“It’s saying the people have no right to insist that everyone be treated equality. It places the ultimate decision in the hands of the university — that they are supreme ones,” Connerly said by phone from California. “It’s a terrible, terrible decision that will not stand.”

Michigan’s ban on affirmative action — covering both government hiring and admission to public colleges and universities — was made part of the State Constitution after a 2006 voter initiative that passed by 58 percent to 42 percent. It was known as Proposal 2 and prohibited public institutions from giving “preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.”

The voter initiative followed the Supreme Court decisions, which found that while the University of Michigan could not set quotas for certain racial groups, or give them extra points, in undergraduate admissions, it could consider race as one factor in the holistic law school admissions process.

The 59 page court decision in .pdf format is here, wherein we find the words of the hateful Prop 2 now found unconstitutional. As you read those hateful words, bear in mind those other words, the ones from the Declaration of Independence as we head into the 4th of July weekend:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, ...”
Here they are. Surely it takes an activist, living-Constitution, elitely superior liberal mind to see the blatant inequality in that amendment:

Proposal 2 amended the Michigan Constitution by adding the following pertinent
provisions to Article I—titled “Affirmative action”:
(1) The University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and any other public college or university, community college, or school district shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.

(2) The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.

(3) For the purposes of this section “state” includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the state itself, any city, county, any public college, university, or community college, school district, or other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality of or within the State of Michigan not included in sub-section 1.

To unenlightened evil conservative minds like mine, the above is the clearest possible statement of equal protection I think I have ever read. Sorry I is so stupit.



My aunt was a school teacher. She started teaching back in the late 60s in a small town school in almost-rural Georgia. Her students were mostly black kids. They had just about nothing in the way of books or school supplies, and she had to fight the prevailing powers to get them what they needed. That was a very long time ago. 17 years ago I spent the summer at my university, and I was amazed that my little school in the wilderness suddenly was wall to wall black kids when the weather got warm. Yet not one of these kids was in any of my classes. They were all incoming Freshmen, spending the summer beforehand taking remedial courses. The school also provided them mentors and free tutoring. The few who did make it to graduation had first pick of the jobs. In New Jersey we have a thing called Abbot Schools, which are a special kind of gold label inner city schools that get massively larger amounts of funding than another other schools in the state. Guess who attends them?
From kindergarten to grad school, the educational system has turned itself inside out to give blacks every possible leg up. And they still need special laws to get into schools?

I will be the first to say that, yes, once upon a time Affirmative Action was a necessary evil. That was 40 years ago. An entire generation of minorities have been through the educational system since then, and their children as well. 40 years worth. And being a minority is a distinct advantage in the jobs market, especially the corporate one. We even have an Affirmative Action President, elected for no reason other than half his heritage (because the election had nothing to do with race you know).

When is enough ever going to be enough? Our entire society caters to the whims, needs, and sensitivity of black people. They have help in all things from cradle to grave. And yet they’re always the victims, no matter how accepted everyone else tries to make them. We’ve removed all the glass ceilings and lowered all the bars right down into the mud, but that’s not enough. When will they ever be equal again, after being superior for all this time?

My wife is furious about this decision. “If I were black” she says “I’d be &^#+ing insulted! Where the hell is Al, or Jesse, speaking up about this? It’s a slap in the face to every minority in the country: we have to baby you, even by law, because you aren’t good enough.”

Isn’t she the greatest?

Posted by Drew458     on 07/02/2011 at 01:41 PM   
Filed Under: • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • Justice - LACK OF • Racism and race relations •  
• Comments (5) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner