Equality and Opportunity

We received heartbreaking news this week when the Supreme Court denied our petition for a writ of certiorari in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board. The case challenged the school board’s overhaul of admissions at Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology—one of the best public high schools in America—undertaken t ...

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will not hear our Thomas Jefferson High School case, a fight to determine whether public school students should be treated as individuals—on merit—or as members of racial groups. This is disappointing news for Pacific Legal Foundation and our clients, the Coalition for TJ: a group of ̷ ...

Zora Neale Hurston was a cultural icon of the Harlem Renaissance. Known for her prolific writing, especially her renowned novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston broke through racial barriers at a time when society was viewed primarily through a black or white lens. But Hurston’s artistic contributions to the countercultural zeitgeist of ...

School segregation has risen from the grave—disguised under a different name. An increasing number of school districts are offering “affinity classes” that cater to specific racial groups. Schools have long offered racially segregated options for electives such as African American history or mentorship programs. But the idea has begun ...

State emergency orders during the Covid pandemic made it possible for patients in one state to consult with doctors in another via telephone and internet. Those orders have now expired, however, and that flexibility has ended. With limited exceptions, doctors can practice medicine only in states where they are licensed and where their patients are ...

New York recently legalized the sale of cannabis, and entrepreneurs looking to get in on the green rush are now free to submit license applications. But, because of their race, some applicants will find it harder than others to obtain a license. New York requires “priority licensing” to individuals on the basis of race and … ...

The box-office hit Wonka is a wild flight of imagination, but within the glamor and fantasy lies a hard truth: The mighty often manipulate government power to shut out competitors, stifling innovation and individual rights. The regulatory barriers manipulated by Willy Wonka’s powerful rivals to stymie entrepreneurs are all too real. In the fi ...

Your gender shouldn’t disqualify you from a public position: That’s the key takeaway from Pacific Legal Foundation’s district court victory in Hurley v. Gast in Iowa.   In the late 1980s, the Iowa state legislature passed several bills requiring state boards and commissions to be gender balanced. The move was part of a larger, w ...

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a critical case about homelessness called City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. I wrote about this last week, and Fox News published my opinion. In this op-ed, I write: The plight of the homeless calls out to anyone with a heart. Drug and alcohol addiction, mental … ...