Justices Asked To Take On Affirmative Action | Cruz Intros Legislation To Keep SCOTUS A Court Of Nine
February 26, 2021
I REGRET TO INFORM YOU
|Nick Anderson and Robert Barnes with The Washington Post report a group opposed to affirmative action asked SCOTUS yesterday to overturn a key precedent that allows schools to consider race when choosing an entering class. They note, “The petition from Students for Fair Admissions was the expected next step in its long-running challenge to Harvard University’s admissions process. Colleges and universities around the country are watching a case with major ramifications for the world of competitive admissions.”
A SORDID BUSINESS
|If SCOTUS agrees to hear the dispute from Students for Fair Admissions, Joan Biskupic with CNN writes that would “set up a major confrontation over university practices first endorsed by the high court in 1978 and affirmed in 2003.” The group claims Harvard unlawfully discriminates against Asian Americans by limiting their numbers in the first-year class. Lower courts have sided with Harvard thus far but as Biskupic points out, the Supreme Court’s new 6-3 conservative majority could be a more sympathetic venue. “From the start, those suing Harvard have looked ahead to the conservative bench and a decision that would affect campuses nationwide. Their latest filing cites past comments from justices on the right, including CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS who as the challengers note, wrote in 2006, ‘It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.'”
NINE'S ENOUGH
|Brittany De Lea with Fox News reports that this week SENATOR TED CRUZ reintroduced legislation aimed at requiring the Supreme Court to be comprised of nine justices. The legislation had been initially introduced in October after progressives pushed for court reform in the wake of JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG’S death.