I’m thankful for another small step in the right direction, but I wish the recent Supreme Court decision upholding a 2006 Michigan referendum banning racial preferences in college admissions would have gone much further and ended it once and for all time on its merits. In fact, in the 6-2 majority opinion, Justice Kennedy wrote that this case “is not about the constitutionality, or merits, of race-conscious admissions policies in higher education”. It stopped with deciding that the people in a referendum have jurisdiction in such a decision. Progress, yes, but unfortunately no clarity on the constitutionality of racial preferences going forward, or on racial “diversity” as a compelling state interest justifying them. Too bad. As usual, one of the best opinion excerpts came from Justice Scalia in his concurrence: “It has come to this. We confront a frighteningly bizarre question: Does the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbid what its text plainly requires?”
