Are you in favor of racial discrimination? Do you think that America ought to allow the government to determine who gets government benefits based upon the race of the applicants? It is already the law of the land that a criminal who is convicted of a crime in which members of one race or another are intentionally excluded from the jury is entitled to go free. The right to vote cannot be based upon race. The right to marry cannot be based upon race. The right to service at a restaurant or a hotel cannot be determined based upon race. The determination which public school children attend cannot be based upon race; the end of the "separate but equal" doctrine in 1954 was perhaps the most important step in the civil rights movement.
Okay, most Americans know all that. So, here's the question: is it acceptable for a state (rather than the federal government) to ban the use of race as a consideration in hiring and granting state benefits? That certainly sounds like a no brainer. Nevertheless, this morning, it took a decision by the Supreme Court to make clear that individual states can ban the use of race as a consideration in hiring or conferring the benefits of the state. In today's decision, the Supreme Court upheld the right of the citizens of Michigan to pass an amendment to the state constitution barring the use of race in hiring and college admissions in that state.
The strange thing is that the group that is always proclaiming everyone else to be racist was the group strongly claiming that states not only have the right but the obligation to discriminate. The progressives wanted to overturn the amendment to the state constitution and require Michigan to discriminate. The liberals who constantly call the GOP racist want hiring to be based upon race. The leftists who falsely claim to have struggled for civil rights argued that the public universities in Michigan must discriminate on race in determining admission. Think about that. If the schools in Ann Arbor refuse admission to blacks to a special high school, it would be illegal and unconstitutional. On the other hand, according to the progressives, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has to discriminate based on race when deciding which high school graduates go on to college.
The argument of the liberals is clearly wrong and illogical. Nevertheless, today's decision is considered big news. This is just another case of ideology triumphing over reason.
Okay, most Americans know all that. So, here's the question: is it acceptable for a state (rather than the federal government) to ban the use of race as a consideration in hiring and granting state benefits? That certainly sounds like a no brainer. Nevertheless, this morning, it took a decision by the Supreme Court to make clear that individual states can ban the use of race as a consideration in hiring or conferring the benefits of the state. In today's decision, the Supreme Court upheld the right of the citizens of Michigan to pass an amendment to the state constitution barring the use of race in hiring and college admissions in that state.
The strange thing is that the group that is always proclaiming everyone else to be racist was the group strongly claiming that states not only have the right but the obligation to discriminate. The progressives wanted to overturn the amendment to the state constitution and require Michigan to discriminate. The liberals who constantly call the GOP racist want hiring to be based upon race. The leftists who falsely claim to have struggled for civil rights argued that the public universities in Michigan must discriminate on race in determining admission. Think about that. If the schools in Ann Arbor refuse admission to blacks to a special high school, it would be illegal and unconstitutional. On the other hand, according to the progressives, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has to discriminate based on race when deciding which high school graduates go on to college.
The argument of the liberals is clearly wrong and illogical. Nevertheless, today's decision is considered big news. This is just another case of ideology triumphing over reason.
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