Court should reject the flawed diversity theory
lya Somin argues that SCOTUS “should make clear that anti-Asian discrimination is no different from that against other groups.”
“The racial categories used by Harvard, UNC, and many other universities are remarkably crude…They certainly don’t reflect any carefully nuanced assessment of different groups’ distinct characteristics or potential contributions to educationally useful diversity…”
“If applied consistently, the diversity theory could justify a vast range of racial and ethnic discrimination…[For example] could a historically Black college be justified in giving them [preferences] to white people (assuming it lacked a ‘critical mass’ of white students otherwise)? This kind of near-blank check for racial discrimination is dubious under any plausible theory of constitutional interpretation, whether originalist or living-constitutionalist…”
“It is not clear how discrimination against one set of members of a racial group can be remedied by discrimination in favor of an entirely different set of people years later, whose only connection to the victims is that they are members of the same race.”
