Conservatives Call Affirmative Action Rulings 'Disgusting' and 'Disappointing'
By Robert B. Bluey
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
June 23, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Supreme Court blew its chance to end discriminatory practices in college admissions, according to disappointed conservatives reacting to Monday's ruling that upholds the use of racial preferences.

In two split decisions Monday, the court ruled 5-4 that the University of Michigan could keep the affirmative action policy used at its law school, but a 6-3 majority said it must revamp the "point system" for undergraduate admissions.

Two Republican members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights expressed disappointment in the rulings and assailed the court for allowing race as a factor in admissions.

"The court should be ashamed of itself, and this nation should be ashamed of itself for celebrating," said Abigail Thernstrom, a commissioner and senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute.

"We have just signed on to quotas for the foreseeable future for decades to come," she added. "We're going to have race-driven decision making from now on with the moral legitimacy of the court. It's disgusting."

Thernstrom said the court was "buffaloed by rotten social science," and her colleague on the commission, Cleveland labor lawyer Peter Kirsanow, said the court relied on so-called "expert studies" on race, many of which have been debunked.

In Kirsanow's view, the key issue came down the court's finding in the law school decision that student body diversity was a compelling government interest.

"The majority opinion is impressive in how it can contort the plain and unambiguous language of the 14th Amendment into a license to discriminate, albeit carefully," Kirsanow said.

As long as universities don't use overt point systems or numerical indices that emphasize race, they will still be able to consider racial preferences, he said. Many schools - and probably businesses as well - will now tailor their affirmative action policies to the law school's approach, Kirsanow said.

The White House released a statement partly praising the Supreme Court for recognizing the value of diversity, but also stressing the need to for a race-neutral society.

"The court has made clear that colleges and universities must engage in a serious, good faith consideration of workable race-neutral alternatives," President Bush said in the statement. "I agree that we must look first to these race-neutral approaches to make campuses more welcoming for all students."

Despite Bush's reaction, other conservatives, including Kirsanow and Thernstrom, were less optimistic.

"Every conservative I've spoken to - and those who aren't trying to spin - are sourly disappointed with this," Kirsanow said.

The much-anticipated rulings brought a positive response from the University of Michigan. President Mary Sue Coleman called them a victory for higher education since they uphold the use of affirmative action to achieve the goal of diversity. She said the ruling regarding undergraduates gives the school a "road map" for how to proceed.

Liberal interest groups also rallied behind the ruling.

"The Supreme Court's affirmation of the constitutionality of affirmative action represents a victory for America's march from our segregated, racist past," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way Foundation. "Today, the Court gave us a signal that affirmative action can stay in order to promote diversity."

The law school case is called Grutter v. Bollinger, and the undergraduate case is Gratz v. Bollinger.

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