(no subject)

[theweaselking]

Fisher v UTexas, aka the "Becky With The Bad Grades" case, decided 4-3 with the fact-based judges overruling the faith-based judges. Held: correction of bias in an admissions process by brute force is, in fact, completely legal, and just because a white girl with bad grades is white does not entitle her to admission to a university at the expense of a non-white student with better grades.

Comments

Reverse racism!

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

Re: Reverse racism!

[dantheserene.livejournal.com]

Yes, it certainly is reverse racism. That's is the means of correcting the previous bias. That was the whole point of the policy.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The term "reverse racism" is loaded, and misleading because of that, I think. But yes, they're consciously biasing the process to correct for a clear, measurable, apparently-uncorrectable UNCONSCIOUS bias.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

In other duh-state news, Guess The State!

[dantheserene.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit confused by your reference to "fact" and "faith" justices, in a case without a religious component. This was an equal protection case.
Where did you get the idea that this was about non-white students with better grades getting in ahead of her? The point of her case was that non-white students with worse grades got in ahead of her.
According to the majority opinion, "The University," Kennedy declared, has "met its burden of showing that the admissions policy it used at the time it rejected petitioner's application was narrowly tailored." There's nothing religious or equal in that finding, and the majority was fine with the lack of equality provided it met their interpretation of narrow tailoring.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

"fact-based" vs "faith-based" is a shorthand I use for when the court splits along the honest/malicious axis.

The point of her case was that non-white students with worse grades got in ahead of her.

Some did. And so did some white students. In the mean time, some non-white students with better grades DIDN'T get in, same with some white students. Because once you've failed to make the cutoff for automatic acceptance, "grades" aren't the deciding factor any more.

The argument is the same as for all "affirmative action" admissions/hires/appointments: The process clearly contains bias since it produces a biased outcome, even though you can't nail down exactly where the bias is. And since there's no shortage of suitable candidates that the process is biased against, tilting the scale to favour them to produce an outcome *as if the process wasn't biased* is a blunt force but perfectly legal and acceptable way to correct for the bias.

[skington.livejournal.com]

For those others wondering at the numbers: it's not 4-4 or 5-3 because Elena Kagan recused herself from the case because of a previous involvement, it would appear. So if not for this coincidence it would have been 5-3.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

It's refreshing to see professional ethics in the Supremes.