UPDATED: Supreme Court upholds Michigan’s ban on affirmative action in college admissions

[DonViejo]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court upholds Michigan’s ban on affirmative action in college admissions.

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/04/22/supreme_court_upholds_michigans_ban_on_affirmative_action_in_college_admissions/

---

Supreme Court upholds Mich. ban on college affirmative action

The justices said in a 6-2 ruling that Michigan voters had the right to change their state constitution to prohibit public colleges and universities from taking race into account in admissions decisions. The justices say that a lower federal court was wrong to set aside the change as discriminatory.

Justice Anthony Kennedy said voters chose to eliminate racial preferences because they deemed them unwise.

Kennedy said nothing in the Constitution or the court’s prior cases gives judges the authority to undermine the election results.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor read her dissent aloud in the courtroom Tuesday. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sided with Sotomayor in dissent.

more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/high-court-upholds-mich-affirmative-action-ban/2014/04/22/c903948a-ca28-11e3-b81a-6fff56bc591e_story.html

[yallerdawg]

1. Thank God Almighty!

Racism and bigotry in America has ended!

[kelliekat44]

2. Really, it doesn't make that much difference in this day. Minorities don't need to be strapped with

huge loans after graduation. The ones with money will get into the schools they apply for anyway because the schools need the money to keep perpetuating the system as it is. The students who need the financial aid and who are college material will get it to enter other schools. What prospective students need is jobs, training for good paying jobs that are needed in today's economy. There are people walking the streets with expensive college degrees looking for jobs. The economic system of privilege and racism is alive and well. Yet we rise!

[yallerdawg]

6. So...

Democrats need not support affirmative action anymore because it would burden minorities with student loans, and colleges accept applicants regardless of race based on the college needing money?

And regardless of privilege and racism , the disproportionately smaller number of black college students and graduates, and disproportionately lower income of blacks, and the disproportionately higher unemployment rate of all educational levels of blacks, is offset because some blacks prevail anyway in the face of national institutionalized discrimination and bigotry?

Affirmative action is not a handout, it is a hand up in the face of actual racial outcomes. If we want equality and fairness, our American history shows it won't just happen.

The black comedian Chris Rock used to say, "There ain't a white man in America would trade places with me - and I'm rich!"

[erpowers]

17. Unemployment Rate Lower For College Graduates

The overall unemployment rate for college graduates is 8.9% while it is 22.9% for high school graduates and 31.5% for high school dropouts. In addition, Healthcare and Education majors have a 5.4% unemployment rate. Furthermore, college graduates tend to make more money than non college graduates. The median wage for college graduates is $57,000, but $26,000 for non college graduates.



http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2012/01/24/college-is-still-worth-it-but-jobs-and-pay-depend-on-major/2/

[n2doc]

3. I see Uncle Thomas continues to vote to pull up the ladder behind him n/t

[rurallib]

4. "Uncle Thomas" - I'd laugh, but he makes me cry.

[SoapBox]

5. Ain't that the truth.

[Major Nikon]

22. Jury results

On Tue Apr 22, 2014, 07:21 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

I see Uncle Thomas continues to vote to pull up the ladder behind him n/t
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=785544

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Enough already with the "Uncle Tom" shit. As a minority I find it very offensive to tell black people how they must vote and think.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Tue Apr 22, 2014, 07:30 PM, and the Jury voted 0-7 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Please! This post most certainly does NOT deserve a "hide" from Democrats. We all know that.
Someone's trying to pull a fast one, doing it very poorly.
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I believe the poster was making the same point as the alerter. It is common usage and this justice plays the part - "a person who is slavish and excessively subservient to perceived authority figures".

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[n2doc]

23. Always nice to see an o- fer

I've been seeing a lot of frivolous alerts on the juries I've been on lately.

[groundloop]

7. I'm no legal scholar - will this be the downfall of all affirmative action?

I can imagine that at least a few more states will see this as granting them permission to end affirmative action, or am I reading too much into this?

[DonViejo]

8. I don't think you're reading too much into it...

I suspect the petitions to place the question of AA on state ballots are being drawn up right this second

[The Stranger]

11. Apparently, Kennedy pulled out the fact that it was the result of an election . . .

to overturn it.

The rest of the affirmative action jurisprudence did not have that distinction.

[dbackjon]

14. So is he going to apply that "LOGIC" to gay marriage cases?

Would he allow slavery if the voters wanted it?

[The Stranger]

15. Perhaps that is where they are headed.

Notwithstanding the fact that Constitutional rights -- whether it be marriage or personal freedom -- are not subject to majority vote, the Roberts court may be fabricating a principle where exactly that is used to undermine individual's rights.

[dbackjon]

16. I hope not - that ruling gave me a sick feeling.

[AlinPA]

20. Kennedy said nothing in the Constitution or the court’s prior cases gives judges the authority to

undermine the election results. That sounds like "the majority rules".

[kokobell616]

9. Leave it to Michigan to fabricate equality.

Left to their own devices the republican held majority in Michigan takes yet another page out of ALEC's playbook to promote the white upper class at the detriment of those less fortunate.

[blackspade]

10. The most corrupt SCOTUS ever.

[Judi Lynn]

24. The absolute dirtiest. What doesn't wear well is their putrid holier-than-thou pomposity. n/t

[Reter]

12. Remember, the decision isn't about if this is a good law or not

It's about if it's constitutional or not. Stephen Breyer seems sided with the majority.

[heaven05]

13. no surprise here

just disappointment and outrage at the ability of 4 very small minded men to be able to destroy the dreams of millions. Democracy, color blind society, the rectification of generations of disparity of opportunity based on race? Nope, not yet. True SCOTUS for the oligarchy and their offspring. What a sad, sad joke this so called democracy is. To think all this is push back from the right wing, since Reagan, for the rights won by women and minorities guaranteeing rights for the dispossessed and racially hated. The right to an equal chance for everyone in this society is shown once again to a sham based on empty words.

[bob27]

18. Affirmative action harmed Asians in California

A report called “Admissions and Public Higher Education in California, Texas and Florida: The Post-Affirmative Action Era” found that Asian-American students particularly benefitted from the state of California’s Proposition 209, which banned state entities from using affirmative action in 1996.

After the ban’s implementation, for instance, the percentage of Asian Americans at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) grew from 37.3% in 1995 to 43.6% in 2000. Since then, according to the report, the number and percentage of Asian Americans has reached 46.6% at the school.

http://racerelations.about.com/od/thelegalsystem/a/WhoBenefitsfromAffirmativeActionsBaninUniversities.htm

[AlinPA]

19. So much for the protection of the minority. The majority rules in the US.

Kennedy said nothing in the Constitution or the court’s prior cases gives judges the authority to undermine the election results. So now a majority of MI voters can take rights away from any minority group.

IMO, this ruling will change a hell of a lot in this country.

[clg311]

21. Supreme Court upholds white privilege. NT

[Judi Lynn]

25. Nothing else. Welcome to D.U. n/t

[clg311]

26. Thank you.