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Mich. ban on race in college admissions illegal - Boston.com (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/07/01/mich_ban_on_race_in_college_admissions_illegal/ - broken link)
"DETROIT—A federal appeals court on Friday struck down Michigan's ban on the consideration of race and gender in college admissions, saying it burdens minorities and violates the U.S. Constitution.
The 2-1 decision upends a sweeping law that forced the University of Michigan and other public schools to change admission policies. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law, approved by voters in 2006, violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
The court mostly was concerned about how the affirmative action ban was created. Because it was passed as an amendment to the state constitution, it can only be changed with another statewide vote. This places a big burden on minorities who object to it, judges R. Guy Cole Jr. and Martha Craig Daughtrey said.
The ban's supporters could have chosen "less onerous avenues to effect political change," the judges said in the court's opinion.
Michigan pledged to appeal. Arizona, California, Nebraska and Washington state have similar bans, but they won't be affected by the decision because the court ruling is limited to states in the 6th Circuit, which includes Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.
The judges cited two U.S. Supreme Court cases, one in 1969 involving the repeal of a fair housing law in Akron, Ohio, and the other in 1982 involving an effort to stop racial integration in Seattle schools."
What are those judges drinking over there ? How does not basing admission on Skin color "burden" minorities...If anything that is as fair as you can get. If you scored higher you should be admitted to College over someone who scored lower.
But in Michigan, the judges disagree. They believe that if you dont have White skin that you should receive free points on your college score, so the judges agree that basing admissions on race is a'ok and its also ok to inadvertently discriminate white people [who receive zero free points for being white].
Ridiculous. The admissions system will never be fair as long as skin color is a factor. Who determines what race a person belongs to? How "non-white" does a person have to be in order to be considered a minority?
Well, now in Michigan, we can once again judge people by their race and skin color rather than their merits. I only hope this will be heard and overturned.
Strangely enough, nobody seems to have read the opinion, even the OP...The decision wasn't that the AA ban was unconstitutional, it's that as an amendment it is more difficult for minorities to overturn. Agree or disagree with that as you will but at least read.
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