The Supreme Court has another opportunity to strike it down.
The Supreme Court has a new opportunity to set aside a government program that long ago passed its “sell by” date. In Fisher v. University of Texas, the court can strike a blow for good racial relations as well.
Abigail Fisher brought a lawsuit against the University of Texas for denying her admission to the university on the basis of race. The university allows lesser-qualified students who didn’t graduate near the top of their high school class to enroll anyway, but only if they are included in a minority. Miss Fisher, who lived in Sugar Land, Texas, near Houston, is white.
More than a century ago, humorist Finley Peter Dunne observed that, “No matter whether the Constitution follows the flag or not, the Supreme Court follows the election returns,” colorfully observing that justices have tailored their interpretations of the law to follow social and political trends and accommodate public opinion. The observation remains valid today, and here it could encourage the right outcome.
Decades after the imposition of affirmative action, Americans have come to realize that discriminatory admissions policies of any kind are inherently wrong. A Washington Post-ABC News poll published Wednesday found that 76 percent of Americans polled say colleges and universities taking race into account in selecting prospective students use a measurement that has outlived its usefulness. There was no difference between whites and blacks in the response.
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