Articles

Schools illegally suspended students to comply with feds' disparate-impact mandate?

June 06, 2014 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

A few months ago, I wrote about the Obama Administration’s announcement that it would apply disparate-impact theory to schools’ discipline policies. According to the Administration, a school presumably violates multiple federal laws if it punishes students of any particular race or gender at a disproportionate rate. … ...

Articles

Support for disparate-impact doctrine is based on misconceptions

May 23, 2014 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

While support for racial preferences is declining across all demographics, disparate-impact theory continues to grow. Attorney General Eric Holder recently reaffirmed the Obama Administration’s commitment to the doctrine when speaking at Morgan State University. If Americans are staunchly opposed to racial preferences, why does belief in disp ...

Articles

How the Supreme Court launched the disparity study industry

January 29, 2014 | By RALPH KASARDA

This last Sunday the Wall Street Journal published an excellent article written by Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity, and John Sullivan of Croson Legal Services.  The article marks the 25th anniversary of an important Supreme Court decision in City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co. In Croson, the Supreme Court held that … ...

Articles

Race-based academic goals are both offensive and ineffective

July 16, 2013 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

At PLF, we believe that individuals have a constitutional right to equal treatment by their government regardless of their race, and we’re actively defending that right. Last year we took note when the Florida and Virginia state boards of education approved strategic plans that set different academic targets for different races. In order to g ...

Articles

Setting academic achievement goals based on skin color is a “race” to the bottom of educational policy

October 17, 2012 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Individuals should not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  Most children learn that famous line from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at an early age.  Unfortunately, children in Florida public schools are going to learn a very different lesson by 2018. … ...

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Affirmative Action : "I do not think that word means what you think it means"

February 13, 2012 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Today’s oral argument in BAMN v. Brown before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco presented a new challenge to California’s Proposition 209 (California Constitution Article I, Section 31), in which a group of minority plaintiffs are seeking to overturn Proposition 209 and reinstate racial preferences for university admi ...