Other IssuesOther Issues
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by Roger Clegg
“The Clock Ticks on Racial Preferences” is the title of a fine opinion piece by James Taranto in the Wall Street Journal last Friday on the two cases challenging racial preferences now before the Supreme Court, BAMN and Fisher. The piece ends with a couple of paragraphs speculating on what Justice Kennedy will do, and I’d like to add a couple of thoughts to that discussion.
GOP's Image Remake
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by Linda Chavez
Sen. Rand Paul's embrace of immigration reform this week shows just how far the GOP has come on this contentious issue since the election. Two years ago, the tea party's favorite senator was one of those Republicans wanting to deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants born in the U.S. Now, he's considering whether even their parents (and other illegal immigrants "who want to work and stay out of trouble") should become eligible for citizenship at some point. "If they want to become citizens, I'm open to debate as to what we do to move forward," he told reporters after his speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington.
Big week at the Supreme Court
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by Roger Clegg
You may recall that the Center for Equal Opportunity helped write and then joined an amicus brief in Shelby County v. Holder, successfully urging the Court to take the case, and then another brief once review had been granted. This week, my partner in crime Joshua Thompson — of the Pacific Legal Foundation — and I posted on National Review Online an essay discussing the case. You can read the full essay here, but I’ve excerpted some parts of it below. Also, I appeared on a panel last week at the Heritage Foundation, where I made many of the same points, and you can watch that panel here, once Heritage posts that.
Updates on Our Two Big Supreme Court Cases
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by Roger Clegg
I’d like to bring you up to date on some odds and ends involving the two big Supreme Court cases in which the Center for Equal Opportunity is involved this term: Fisher v. University of Texas (in which we challenge racial preferences in university admissions) and Shelby County v. Holder (in which we argue that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires some states — mostly in the South — to get permission from the federal government before making any voting-related changes, is unconstitutional).
* * *
Pull the Plug on Hagel
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by Linda Chavez
Chuck Hagel's nomination to be secretary of defense is in trouble -- as it should be. The former Republican senator has so much baggage it is amazing that the administration hasn't dumped him, as they did Susan Rice when her proposed nomination ran into trouble. Unfortunately, having won that battle, the GOP may be in weaker position to defeat another Obama nominee. And Rice, her misstatements about the attack on Benghazi notwithstanding, would have been a less dangerous cabinet member than Hagel.
The Supreme Court argument in Shelby v. Holder
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by Roger Clegg
Last week, I was asked by ScotusBlog to comment on the oral argument in Shelby County v. Holder. ScotusBlog is a high-profile website that specializes in covering the Supreme Court of the United States; the Shelby County case, in which the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is challenged, was argued before the Court on February 27.
Fair-housing insanity, diversity champs, and Harvard
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by Roger Clegg
The Obama administration last week issued regulations formally adopting a “disparate impact” approach to enforcing the Fair Housing Act. This means that you can be found liable for illegally discriminating in a housing-related matter by following some policy that has a disproportionate effect, even though the policy is nondiscriminatory by its terms, in its application, and in its intent. So, for example, if a bank’s lending policy for home loans results in, say, a higher percentage of Asians being accepted than Latinos, then it can be held liable (banks have been actively opposing the regulations, unsurprisingly).
Holding the President's Men Accountable
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by Linda Chavez
When one of Washington's most distinguished journalists -- Bob Woodward -- accuses the White House of rewriting history, even liberals should take note. And when the White House responds by threatening him, you would think the story would become a national scandal. What makes the story even more important is that it deals with an issue that has dominated the news in recent weeks: the Draconian budget cuts that will take effect on March 1 unless a last-minute deal is reached in Congress.
Misplaying the Race Card
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by Roger Clegg
In a recent civil-rights case, EEOC v. Kaplan Higher Learning Corp., the Obama administration is suing Kaplan for running credit checks on employee applicants. Kaplan had learned that some of its employees had misappropriated student payments and so, to provide safeguards against this behavior, Kaplan began screening its applicants for major red flags in their credit history. The Obama administration sued Kaplan, arguing that it cannot use credit checks that has a “disparate impact” on black applicants.
