The legal world held its breath this morning as the U.S. Supreme Court released what will probably be its last opinions of 2013. Would Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, widely (but not unanimously) expected to deal a body blow to affirmative action at public universities, be one of them? The answer: apparently not this month. Meanwhile, Dan Levy, Director for Law and Policy, Michigan Department of Civil Rights, has a new piece in Diversity Inc., Supreme Court’s Dangerous Mix-Up of Diversity and Affirmative Action that says that the framing of the case has been all wrong:
In October, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case asking whether an applicant’s race may ever be considered in university admissions. Based on the justices’ questions and (even worse) the answers, the court appears ready to decide the wrong case. Listening to the argument, one would think Michigan’s universities used “affirmative action” or “racial preferences” in their admissions policies. They do not.
HT: SCOTUSblog