Why the Supreme Court should hear the Harvard case

We are writing with unfortunate frequency about the spread of the racial spoils system in the U.S. That system first took hold in college admissions policies. The Supreme Court could have stopped it in its tracks, but declined early on to do so. Since then, it has continued to tolerate blatant racial discrimination against Whites and Asian-Americans.

Now, the Supreme Court has the opportunity to address the problem it helped create. The Court can do so if it agrees to hear the case filed by a group of Asian-American students against Harvard for its racially discriminatory admissions policy. (That case is Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.)

The editors of the Wall Street Journal urge the Court to hear the case. They point out, as we have, that:

In America today the principle that drove the civil rights movement — equality for all — is fast giving way to the view that race must be a dominant factor in every decision from college admission to eligibility for federal farm programs to the make up of corporate boards to who get priority for a Covid vaccine.

The editors acknowledge that the Court has already agreed to hear cases on the hot-button issues of abortion and guns. It might be tempted to conclude that this is enough white-hot controversy for one term.

However, the editors submit that taking the Harvard case is arguably even more important than deciding the gun and the abortion cases. They warn:

If the Justices abdicate on the race question now, the virus of racial separatism will spread even more deeply into American life. In a few years it may be much harder to eradicate without considerable social harm. The U.S. would slide toward the racially divisive politics of countries like Malaysia, where government bias is ingrained in law to unhappy effect.

This, indeed, is where we are headed — and fast. Let’s hope that the Supreme Court steps up and stops the rot.

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