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Subscribe to RSSThe U.S. Supreme Court term that begins Monday promises to be one of the most important for civil rights in decades, with the potential for blockbuster decisions on issues from race in classrooms and the voting booth to legal recognition for same-sex marriage.
Related: Conservatives warily ponder prospect of an 'Obama court'
Less than a decade after ruling that the nation's colleges and universities can consider the race of student applicants to achieve more racially diverse campuses, a practice now widely used by the nation's selective schools, the court has agreed to take a fresh look.
The new challenge comes from Abigail Fisher, a white student denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin. The school admits the top 10 percent of academic performers from all Texas high schools, then considers the race of applicants as one factor in admitting the remainder of an incoming freshman class.
Evan Vucci / AP
People who waited in line overnight to hear the Supreme Court on a landmark case on health care hold their belongings as they make their way into the court in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012.
Fisher did not finish in the top 10 percent at her high school and claims that the consideration of race in reviewing applications cost her a spot at the university.
"There were people in my class with lower grades, who weren't in all the activities I was in, who were accepted into UT. And the only difference between us was the color of our skin," she said.
The university, backed by civil rights groups, contends that while the top 10 percent plan achieves some campus diversity, many of its classes would have only a few, if any, black and Hispanic students without additional considerations of race.
Making it harder to achieve the diversity colleges need, argues Gregory Garre, a Washington, D.C. lawyer representing the University of Texas, "would jeopardize the nation's paramount interest in educating its future leaders in an environment that best prepares them for the society and workforce they will encounter."
The New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin joins Morning Joe to discuss President Obama's relationship with the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts and his ruling on the Affordable Care Act, and the relationships the justices have with one another.
The Supreme Court that will hear the case Oct. 10 is different from the one that upheld a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Michigan law school in 2003.
"Sandra Day O'Connor was on the court then, and she's been replaced by Samuel Alito, who has much less tolerance for affirmative action," says Tom Goldstein, a Washington, D.C. lawyer who specializes in Supreme Court cases.
O'Connor, who wrote the decision in the Michigan case, retired from the court in 2006.
As a result, says Pamela Harris, a former Obama administration official in the Justice Department, "I don't think anyone thinks affirmative action is long for this world."
Justice Elena Kagan, considered one of the court's liberals, will sit this one out. She was the Obama administration's solicitor general when the Justice Department became involved in the case in the lower courts.
The Supreme Court will take up another racially charged issue this term if, as seems likely, it agrees to consider efforts to scale back the landmark Voting Rights Act.
Passed by Congress in 1965 and renewed four times since then, most recently in 2006, a key provision requires states with a history of discrimination at the polls to get federal permission before making any changes to election procedures -- from redrawing congressional district boundaries to changing the locations of polling places.
Three years ago, the Supreme Court brushed off a challenge to that requirement but strongly suggested that several justices had doubts about its constitutionality, given recent electoral reforms.
"Things have changed in the South," the court said in 2009. "Blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees are rare."
Pending cases ask the court to strike down the pre-clearance requirement entirely or throw out the list of areas, consisting of nine entire states, and of 12 cities and 57 counties elsewhere, that must get permission to modify their election procedures.
The current map, says Bert Rein, a Washington, D.C. lawyer representing Shelby County, Ala., includes some localities that have made substantial reforms while missing other parts of the country that have failed to root out discrimination at the polls.
As a result, Rein says, the system is unfair. "Florida has been forced into pre-clearance litigation to prove that reducing early voting from 14 days to 8 is not discriminatory, when states such as Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania have no early voting at all."
But Debo Adegbile of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund says the current map is a close enough fit to cover the areas of greatest concern.
"Congress is not a surgeon with a scalpel when it acts to legislate across the 50 states. But it can reasonably attack discrimination where it finds it," he says.
The court is almost certain to take up a host of challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996.
It defines marriage, for the purposes of federal law, as "only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife." As a result, same-sex couples who get married in the states where such marriages are legal are accorded state and local benefits but miss out on more than 1,100 federal ones.
After at first defending the law, the Obama administration notified federal courts early last year that it concluded the law was unconstitutional. House Republicans then took up the law's defense.
A Supreme Court ruling striking down DOMA as discriminatory would not force states to permit same-sex marriage. But it would require the federal government to recognize those marriages where they are legal.
The court could address the issue of same-sex marriage more directly if it takes up the legal challenge to California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state.
Legal experts differ on whether the court is prepared to go that far, rather than deciding the DOMA issue now and coming back to the constitutionality of gay marriage in a later term.
"We're not at the point where the Supreme Court will require the state of Mississippi to allow same-sex marriage," says Louis Michael Seidman of the Georgetown University Law Center.
Among other questions the justices will confront:
- Must police get a search warrant before taking a blood sample from a suspected drunk driver?
- How far can police go in using drug-sniffing dogs outside someone's house?
- Can a 1789 law, the Alien Tort Statute, be used to bring lawsuits in US courts for violations of international law that occur in other countries?
- And, in an issue of growing interest to U.S. businesses, should more limits be placed on the ability to bring class-action lawsuits?
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Off topic, Rasmussen had tie Obama 46%, Romney 46%
The fat lady aint singing yet!! };~)
FORWARD!
While we're looking into the trampling of civil liberties, mabye the SC can check out the PATRIOT Act, NDAA, TSA, Habeas corpus, etc. If niether the repubs or the dems are going to do anything about it, maybe the court should.
http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/issues/civil-liberties
Vote the Tea stench OUT OF OFFICE so we can get this country on the right track. Vote a straight Dem ticket all the way down your ballot. The supreme court in the bat$hot crazy pockets would destroy our country. We need common sense policies, not ones that treat people as dirt... unless you are filthy dirty rich! (then you are a god)
Sirie; Way off topic since Fox-mussen always over sample Republicans.
Welcome Back Bev!
Love it when Bev parrots over and over Fox Noise, Faux Noise, Fox Noose. Tell me Bev, the crummy economy a conspiracy theory concocted over at the Fox News HQ? What about the 8% unemployment? Libya? Iran?
Reality is now a conspiracy theory.
Yeah, especially when Rasmussen had been the most precise polling over the last few decades...
Affirmative action; isn't that Cosmo pin up Scott Brownie's Horror Show?
RepubliCons are as afraid of Affirmative action as a goat's a** is to a butcher knife. A concise HIS-tory of white victim hood in American history
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a15/NLinStPaul/concise1.jpg
Beverly in Chicago
Bev, your wrong, it is the other way around. and I have asked NBC to show us the formula that they use.
Rasmussen and Pew polling have been tied for first place since 2008 from a group of 26 Pollsters. NBC is about 17th with Fox 15th. Please get some facts..
sirie
Yeah, especially when Rasmussen had been the most precise polling over the last few decades...
You are not correct.
Ok, everyone reading this with a functioning brain, knows that Scott Rasmussen polls are not trustworthy. But, in a 2010 blast from the past, Nate Silver wrote:
Silver went on to say that Rasmussen screwed up state polling as well. They also called 7 states wrong.**
Some of this was the result of bias, as they were 3.5 points too high on Bush's margin in the states they surveyed, on average. As you can see from Silver's bar graph ranking pollsters on the 2000 General Election, Rasmussen was, as Nate wrote, the worst of the lot.
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m551/keepemhonest2/NateSilverRasmussen.jpg
[Source] Nate Sliver blog image 5/26/10
Fox is the echo chamber for GOP Lies !!!!!!!!!!
GOP Conservative Values "HATE" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Siri
The fat woman is clearing her throat. She will sing good bye and good riddance to the Repbs & Teaparty nut jobs. Ryan/Mittins just don't get it. We the people are Tired of the party of 'NO" and will vote them OUT
Don't worry Patriotic American U.S.A. every thing is going to be ok,
Because CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and MSNBC is the echo chamber for Democrate Lies !!!!!!!!!!
Affirmative actions is the most racist piece of legislation ever to enter into our nations laws. It should be done away with completely. Applicants should be accepted based on qualifications, not their skin color. Affirmative action does not promote diversity, it only promotes envy, and disdain, and it only prove to further racial tensions. I pray the supreme court rectifies these erroneous laws.
Sirie,
The trending in all National polling, and state battle ground polling has had Obama ahead for months with trending consistently increasing his earlier leads to greater leads the closer we get to election day. This includes ABC, Clear Politics, PEW, Gallup, etc.
If the Fat Lady isn't singing.....she's definitely warming up with vocal excercises and the audience is seated !!! If you're a Republican....get your Kleenex tissues ready for all those oncoming tears....
It (Health Care) will be their (GOP) Waterloo.........
Sirie
I'm surprised he hasn't issued an "executive order" to replace all with cronies from Chicago... jk
Not all , but one in particular' President Obama appointing a Black female lawyer from Chicago to the Supreme Court would be nice.
However, there are many other African American who well qualified. For example, Elaine R. Jones is a prominent civil rights attorney and activist. She joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) in 1970 and in 1993 became the organization's first female director-counsel and president.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Jones
Or Marian Wright Edelman, longtime president of the Children's Defense Fund and the first black woman admitted to practice in the state of Mississippi in the 1960s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Wright_Edelman
Lani Guinier, whose work includes professional responsibilities of public lawyers, the relationship between democracy and the law, the role of race and gender in the political process, equity in college admissions, and affirmative action.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lani_Guinier
It would be disappointing for the nation's first African-American President to make two white appointments, leaving the Court with seven white members.
That's funny because gallup has Obama 50 and Romney 44.
Did you see Obama's lead in Ohio.
I think the fat lady is warming up and getting ready to sing.
The only poll that counts is the actual vote count.
Goodbye Obama.
Good to see the Supreme Court taking on these isssues since the president won't defend our laws. He is such a failure that he won't even defend laws written and signed by members of his own party. I'll bet there are plenty of democrats that can't wait for him to go back to Chicago. He has ruined the democratic brand and is trying to replace it with a progressive/liberal agenda. That doesn't sit well in America, it sits just fine at MSNBC. I really should drop the MS since even Microsoft is disgusted with NBC these days.
47%
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tpAOwJvTOio
One tie by the right wing Rasmussen polling service and the hyper-conservatives are clutching at it like it's a life preserver on high seas. They seem rather desperate, don't they?
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/rasmussen-polls-were-biased-and-inaccurate-quinnipiac-surveyusa-performed-strongly/
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/general_election_romney_vs_obama-1171.html
i dont know who's the more desparate, the ones claiming the race aint over (because it isn't, NOV 6th) or the ones claiming it is over because of polls that are arguably unreliable. Like you guys on the left. Hey check out this ficticious Electoral map that shows Obama already won. Too funny. The obama chants are getting louder. FORWARD on the road to nowhere
Rassmussen has NOT been the most accurate polling organization over the last decade. They have a flawed methodology that results in a Republican bias of around 4 percentage points.
Supporters of Rassmussen point to the 2008 presidential elections, where Rassmussen was fairly accurate. They ignore the fact that in the 2010 elections they were the most inaccurate of the major pollsters, missing by over 5% and overstating Republican strength by around 4%.
Rassmussen was also very inaccurate in 2000, picking the wrong winner in 7 swing states. They improved to being average in 2004 and 2006.
Rassmussen conducts their polling using only robo-calls to land-line phones between the hours of 5-9 pm. They robo-query whoever answers the phone first, and don't call back if no one answers.
Many polling experts agree that their polls are not representative and are becoming increasingly inaccurate as people switch to internet and cell phone use.
what the hel i thought this was about the sc not polls alot of whiney people on here today its like my dad can beat up your dad come on people try to stay focused
White Collar Auto.....don't you think you should be thanking President Obama for saving the "AUTO INDUSTRY" instead of talking non-sense?
GodBlessAmerica - love the name BTW!!
I think it remains to be seen if Obama even "helped" the auto industry or in fact hurt them, with the EPA emissions guidelines. There are MANY stories about how his policies are hurting GM, among others.
Oh, Caesar! You're just melancholy over the fact your feeble-minded candidate failed. Look on the bright side: you won't have to support another GOP loser until 2016! Good news, right?
Obama saved GM? so when is Captain America going to save the rest of us? you know the tax payers that bailed out GM
Hey Sally, doing good today? I hope so. but yeah, melancholly sure.
sure, just the current democrat loser. YAY Great news! FORWARD while in the garage
Off topic for the troll. :)
Ohio: Obama 47%, Romney 46%
Bev: I long to see a day when no one gives a rat's a$$ about the race or gender of anyone in office. The hatred directed at our president because of his race has crushed my dreams. We will never give up the fight.
4 more 4 44
Exito:
Can the racist card bs, willya? This dude is so inept that it doesn't matter if he's a green hermaphrodite!
Well, in a twisted sort of way you appear to be admitting your candidate will lose. Now we just have to work on your attitude...and cognitive skills. We're making progress, though! Well done, Caesar!
Ah.... Affirmative Action. Equality, through Inequality. Makes perfect sense! If you want people treated equal, then clearly we must treat them different. That way they are equal!
idiots... if you want equality... and i know this is mind bender here, TREAT PEOPLE EQUALLY!
The white student couldn't get into college because she is white?
Spider
Anyone who doesn't understand that a whole lot of the ranting and raving against the President stems strictly from racial bias is utterly clueless.
Red Cloud
It's hard to believe that Romney can win at all now that he's shown the American people (including many of those who are not Caucasian) that he is an elitist who doesn't care what happens to them so long as he and his rich friends keep getting richer. But I certainly agree with your statement that it's the GOP's hatred of him because he is Black that is propelling their fight.
Bev,
You are aware that, 1) you are quoting from a blog and 2) the data quoted is 12 years old.
hey Failcat if you want to view it simply as that then go for it. Or perhaps I say nuh uh and you say yuh huh. Wow round and round we go. Or I can just say your guy is a loser and call it a day. I leave you to play with yourself now
After the Citizens United Bull crap, how is this court going to fix or properly rule on anything?
The main stay of our democracy it our right to vote and not have our government up for sale. Voter suppresssion is blatant, everyone can see it and yet some are willing to go for it because they do not realize the implications.
We desperately need Obama to win even if some of you have to hold your nose. If he does not win, say good bye to our democratic ideals and be prepared to be made into low wage society without proper voting rights and live in a country wherein the people will owe everything and own nothing.
Be advised, this is not your Grandfather's Republican Party. This is an attempted coup by real bad guys.
So Bev, is it your contention that it is the republicans fault that the president had two chances to appoint a black woman to the supreme court and dropped the ball both times?
http://www.Liberty2012.tk
Mitt Romney defines civil rights as polite TeaBaggers.
In his heart, he doesn't support THEM either.
Does this mean they are going to do something about white males being discriminated against for hiring and promotions in government jobs?
Judging from just what I read in replies on various articles I would say that the rasmussen poll is very wrong. I can see 3 to 1 responses pro Obama and basing my call on what I read, I would say Obama is our next president. Romney/Ryan are not in touch with the average joe. Twenty Five years ago I would not have cared much about SS reform but at my age anyone who mentions cutting or altering the program loses my vote. I am a register Republican for now but soon to change to Independent. I have seen the party that I once stood by be taken over by Elitist White Men who think they know best for all concerned.
Geeze if this doesn't smell of innuendo nothing does. This guy sounds like one of the Southern Poverty Law Center Douche Bags. Why didn't he mention California?
It's time for Affirmative Action to end. If the argument is people of color need help because they are mentally unable to compete because the White Man has kept them down for so long then after all these years of Affirmative Action it must have entered their DNA and all the quota policies in the world won't help them. Affirmative Action is the most racist policy since segregation.
We must protect all of the advances we have made in the area of civil rights.
We must NEVER go backwards....we must keep people from chipping away at those rights.
Who ordered the Supreme Court special - I wanted the Meat Lovers. Damn veggie freaks.
It was reported today that Michelle & Obama spent 1.2 BILLION tax dollars
Last year alone on vacations, campaigning (calling it official business) & perks.
This includes a personal assistant to their Dog BO who is paid $125,000 a year.
source= Presidential Perks gone Royal.
Don't tell me Obama cares! His re-election is nothing more than a gravy train GIG on the backs of the TAX Payers!
.
Actually Beverly historically Rasmussen has been one of the most accurate whether his polls show Democrats or Republicans winning. Just because you prefer polls showing your candidate farther ahead doesn't change the fact that his is usually way more accurate not only on who wins but in actual numbers. Saying that I don't think a national poll is all that important as this race will be decided in the swing states as almost all Presidential eclections are...........and Obama is leading in those. But Bush vs. Gore, and Reagan vs. Carter were also behind going into the debates. I think the debates will decide this election.
national polls mean very little. we don't elect a president by popular vote, ask al gore. it's all about electoral votes. if romney loses ohio it is almost impossible for him to win and right now he is well behind. even rasmussen shows him behind in ohio not to mention the majority of the swing states. if the election was today he would lose by a wide margin in electoral votes
Sirie,
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/general_election_romney_vs_obama-1171.html
Rass is just one poll. Do you make any decisions based on only one professional opinion or only one view point? If you do you have some greater issues to deal with than fighting them thar big bad "librul" polls the right keeps on whining about.
Spoiler alert, Obama is ahead 4 points nationally across all polls.
Conner nailed this one .. forget a national popularity percent ... this is a nation which elects its President through the Electoral College ... and it is all about that score ... this is why specific "battleground" states matter so much.
This should put the race-baiting, racial-dividing crowd in its place for awhile. Race should NEVER be used in admissions; ACHIEVEMENT should! The best get in first, ALL the rest, after. Period. This quota crap is ridiculous!
Beverly In Chicago- you slams Fox News and yet you always quote Wikpedia, like that is a trusted source..For the Love of God reference a credible source to back up your argument against Mitt, until you do...you only look like the fool you support...
"As President I am responsible for everything....uhmmm well only parts ...uhmmm like 10%...90% in Bush's fault...you can find the truth on Wikipedia... cause it's all good in the Hood for me!!"..President Barrack Obama 2012
After decades, nay, centuries, of racial discrimination, they are due a little discrimination in their favor. I'll bet you didn't have a problem when it was whites only. I agree that it should be eliminated, but not just yet. Sucks to be on the other side now, doesn't it?
Supreme Court Appointments.
Another very important reason that the Obama Administration has to go.
I'm surprised he hasn't issued an "executive order" to replace all with cronies from Chicago... jk
What do you think a second failed term, I mean a second Obama term will encompass? He sure aint in the mood to work with the opposing view.
I read an article that Obama believes that "once the Amercian public re-elects me, the Republicans will have to start working with us".
swear to God, that won't happen!
In order for the Republicans to work with Obama, that would require him to lead. So yes, I agree it won't happen. A good leader must get both sides to work together. But he probably can't get them to purposely trash the country, so he won't get everything he wants.
what do you expect from a Megalomaniac
Hopefully Obama will get the chance to appoint two or three justices during his second term.------------------------
CraigZZ
In order for the Republicans to work with Obama, that would require him to lead. So yes, I agree it won't happen. A good leader must get both sides to work together.
So I guess bush was a good leader, eh? How freaking funny............Obama's accomplished some things in soite of the rethugli-con "leadership".
Obama/Biden 2012 My vote has already been cast.
A person can lead, and receive no cooperation. That's what's happening here.
The Republican agenda has been to make Obama a one term President. Not, to increase jobs, or help the economy.
If Romney gets elected he deserves to deal with the same thing, and I would hope that Democrats would fully obstruct his agenda and then accuse him of not leading.
White Collar Auto and Sirie,
This is exactly one of the main reasons why he'll (Obama) stay to serve four more years. You are within the Minority (White Male-anti middle class voter). The majority of White females-middle class are against a Conservative Supreme Court infringing upon womens health care/workers rights. The Majority of Seniors/soon to be Seniors are against ANY Medicare voucher program to fund Millionaires/Billionaires tax cuts.
So...despite it (what you wish for) being what you want......you won't get it (your wish).... The majority of Americans are middle class voters.....not rich white males intent on infringing upon others Rights to benefit themselves......
It (Health Care) will be their (GOP) Waterloo..........
@ CraigZZ(snoring while sleeping),
Republicans wouldn't know how to spell the word, "lead". Their too busy "following" Grover Norquist. And, in these times of a struggling middle class economy caused by Millionaires/Billionaires tax cuts....Grover's endorsement/oath by Refiblicans is political suicide. Just look at the polls........
case closed.......
Sorry, White Sheet Auto but he will win. The Republican pick a loser. Let's hope that Clarence comes down with a severe case of sickle cell (The only way to remind him that he is actually black) and has to resign. Let hope Scalli runs into "Lucca Brossi" (Godfather) in a dark alley.
Caesar Augustus-
Love it when Bev parrots over and over Fox Noise, Faux Noise, Fox Noose. Tell me Bev, the crummy economy a conspiracy theory concocted over at the Fox News HQ? What about the 8% unemployment? Libya? Iran?
Reality is now a conspiracy theory.
Little Caesar,
The reality is the MAJORITY of the electorate have finally awaken to GOP, FOX NOOSE LIES.
POLL are you better now with Obama?
The new Allstate/National Journal/Heartland Monitor poll tested this directly. First, they asked the standard “are you better off now than you were four years ago?” A plurality said they were not. Then they asked, “are you better off because Obama won in 2008″? A plurality said they were. Here’s the graph:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/files/2012/09/are-you-better-off.jpg
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/21/the-poll-result-that-explains-the-election/
=======================================
See, Little Cesar reurgitating FOX 'S fixed talking points really don't matter. Yup, reality is now a conspiracy theory where FIXED NEWS is concerned. It's all blather over @ FOX NOISE.
4 more 4 44
Obama/Biden 2012
in short no. but did you really think I would say yes? Stick to the reality is now a Fox Conspiracy. You're one of those loudmouths that repeat over and over the same in your face pseudo intimidation rhetoric. You should also type in caps, would complete the image. Member Bev, bring your billy club with you to the Polls.
i read alot about wealthy repubs benefiting from tax breaks but nothing about wealthy dems. lets all take a look at charity contributions from both sides and just what they do to invest in america. i read the repubs won't work with the dems so that would mean the dems won't work with repubs. looks like the two sides stalemate so nothing gets done but alot of name calling
POLL are you better now with Obama?
In short - yes, I am finally off food stamps...business is coming back
Supreme Court Appointments.
A very important reason why a Romney Administration would be devastating for America. We don't need any more corporation are people B.S.
Michelle & Barry spent 1.2 BILLION dollars on perks in the WH Last Year alone
This includes a personal assistant for their DOG BO who gets paid $125,000 a year !
scorce= post #1.48
Please defend that Obama democrats! Thats more money than Mitt Romney earned in 10 years! Who is the greedy "rich" here?
Typical. Sickening
Love2troops- First, you source your own post. Then in that post you source a book written by Robert Keith Gray, a republican activist, that worked to get Nixon elected. That right there should give you a hint at how bright this guy is. As usual, your posts hold no water.
You know, AirThief, if teabaggers couldn't lie, they wouldn't have anything to say at all.
Given Romney's attitude towards 47% of this country, he's certainly no "uniter." But, unlike Obama, it is clear that he won't even try.
$1.2 BILLION? Billion?? Yeah, right. Post your source (citing another posting is not proof).
Well, Roberts does owe his corporate masters a pay back after affirming the ACA. He will do what he has to do to get the right wing off his back.
If ever there is a reason to vote in this election, the Supreme Court is it. Time to reign in the criminal Roberts court and add progressives.
It will be fun to watch Scalia's little tiny brain explode when that happens!
Can you imagine if all the Branches were progressives. We might as well have a democratic dictatorship. Progressives, Liberals, all the same as Populist Radical Popcorns. How can anyone think this way?
Is this what you want for our Country. I go more for a real balance of power.
Please Vote correctly all our lifes depend on it.
Progressives are simply traitors to every American ideal and function only as enemies of America. I wouldn't vote for a member of the KKK, so I never vote for any candidate endorsed by groupls similar to the KKK, such as the NAACP.
Smile seraphically and remember that President Obama will likely appoint 2-3 new justices in his second term. Roberts will be irrelevant.
Obama/Biden 2012
Wow jeff, great post. Let's hope you don't vote period. Your lack of intelligence and understand is glaring.
newdayDAWNING...RETURNED
If ever there is a reason to vote in this election, the Supreme Court is it. Time to reign in the criminal Roberts court and add progressives.
It will be fun to watch Scalia's little tiny brain explode
-----Two words----Clarence Thomas. Let's hope he goes as well.
I hope so, skip! Feel better, we need you here.
So Jeff, the Founders were traitors? Progressive liberals all.
Thomas indeed, imwhitewolf. You make an EXCELLENT point.
Does he ever participate in any of the cases? He just a rubber stamp for the neocons.
I agree lets hope he goes.
newdayDAWNING...RETURNED
Thomas indeed, imwhitewolf. You make an EXCELLENT point.
newday,
Kinda reminds me of Justice Clarence Thomas' black robe being a strait jacket.
What part of "lifetime appointment" do you not get? There is little chance that any of the justices will be going anywhere over the next 4 years. The composition of the SCOTUS is unlikely to change anytime soon.
The Supreme Court will do what it has always done render a few convoluted decisions which raise more questions than answers. They do this so that their fellow lawyers will be able to fight about the same issues again in the future. And the wheels on the bus go round and round.
job security for all those lawyers!
Lawyers payed for by the Koch group !!!!!!!!!!!!
Why doesn't someone send a case to the Supreme Court questioning the admission of athletes to colleges??
Many applicants are turned away from the very colleges that accept athletes with much poorer grades than those of rejected applicants.
Also, what about the wealthy college donors who can easily get their kids into college whether the kids are qualified or not?
Obama just needs for more years and he will put framed pictures of Lenin and Stalin in the white house. That's what he was saying during his hot mic fiasco at the white house.
why do collages have to meet a racial quota in there enrollment? take the top performing h/s students. All races sit in the same classrooms through grade and high school and have the same opportunity make the grade. therefore it is not a race issue if someone doesnt make the grade
dean2082 - collages DON'T have to meet racial quotas. Collages are the compilation of photos, etc. to form a mural or very large photo.
Colleges take government funding - at least many do - so they need to show they are not discriminating against any group of individuals. When things are truly decided on merit, those quotas will no longer be needed.
Obama/Biden 2012
dean, there is a nice article on Real clear politics about that very issue, just a few days ago...
I was surprised at the logic used...
Actually the white students sit in much nicer, richer, cleaner, wealthier classrooms than black, Hispanic and native American students.
SS - The problem is that it reverse discriminates against students, thus creating just an "unfair" outcome.
really mike my kids sit in the same rooms with all other races. in 1950 you would be right but now all are togather.
Nope. It is just not true. You must live in a suburban school district and you have no clue of the makeup of inner city and reservation schools. Pull your head out of the hole you have it stuck in and look around.
Because if you did everything in America based on merit it would be too white and some limousine liberals would feel angst with their brie and white wine.
mark to be honest the entire public school system is nothing more then govern indoctrination system and true the inner city schools dont teach as well but a lot of the problem is not the facility because you can teach effectivly in a barn. most of it students are unwilling to pay attention and teachers cant discipline them
All races do not sit in the same classrooms with the same opportunities. There are significant differences in the quality of education offered in different states, school districts and even different schools in the same districts. Colleges attempt to recruit and admit those students who made the most of the opportunities available to them despite inequalities in those opportunities.
I wonder if there are statistics on the number of minority students attending high functioning primary and secondary schools who are not accepted at the college of their choice to make room for students from lesser schools.
dean-
How do you propose to measure the "top performing students"? Grades? SAT or ACT scores?
It is not easy to measure intelligence or willingness to learn. I believe in a balanced approach that rewards those students with higher grades/scores but admits the playing field is not level and accepts some additional students based partially on race and socio/economic factors.
Sorry but inner city schools are a problem because of inner city kids. Black youth culture has this horrible trend of disdaining and even looking down on other blacks for getting an education. This is a huge problem in the black community and until they address that nothing will change. And if affirmative action is the only thing keeping white racists from denying African Americans and Hispanics from enrollment, then why are Asians given a free pass?
too reasonable to be considered.
The bottom line is this: A transcript from an accredited high school looks the same as any other, therefore, if the GPA is high, guess what admission to college. Affirmative action has been a crutch for years. Students who want to learn and dedicate themselves should be allowed in. Grades are the important part and if students of any race decide to breeze by, then that leaves more people to dig ditches and flip burgers. Merit should be based on academic achievement not the color of ones skin. I did not own a plantation, I did not bring anyone to this country against their will, I do not owe anyone anything for the past. It is time to get rid of the critches and start living.
Let's hope we can finally put the final nail in the coffin of Affirmative Action....a blatant form of discrimination in itself. Two wrongs have never made a right and this misguided policy has caused as much harm as it has attempted to redress. We lost our way on this one...time to get back on a morally defendable and principled path....
The only path is get the TeaReTarded kids out of Congress, they are racial pigs putting this Nation on the wrong path !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is not time to end affirmative actions. It is only a form of discrimnation to those who used to automatically assume they were on the winning end of any contest. Two wrongs may not make a right, but one wrong doesn't make a right either.
It would make more sense to eliminate legacy admissions if we want to end affirmative action programs.
Actually affirmative action programs have been highly successful over the past 50 years. Millions of disadvantaged students have been given an opportunity to advance their education which has increased the educational systems in this country, our sciences, our corporations, the middle class. The successes are beyond measurement. Anybody who claims otherwise is just plain wrong.
And why on Earth would we want to do that? Success these days is measured by how many terms your party wins and how much money you can get. None of this "for the betterment of the whole of society" thinking that made us a world power. That's old school thinking.
You have a warped way of thinking. BTW the more educated and more diverse society we have the wealthier and healthier our society become.
Anita brings up a good point, how does a student know that they lost out on an entrance slot because of race, rather then something else, like a legacy admission?
Anyone know if the admissions rating process is public information?
I do believe that affirmative action is part of dumbing down of america and reverse racisiam but the gov. thinks if the colors don't equal the same then its discremination. don't think the race card should be involved. what is right about someone losing acceptance because of race. what if someone with a very high iq lost out because he wasn't the right color
The idea that taking unqualified students and making them qualified by placing them into classes with those who deserve to be there is inane. America, since Affirmative action hit our public schools has sank like a stone educationally. We can call it racism all we want, but Progressivesand their welfare state murdered the black family and thats why inner city kids have no chance no matter how much we cheat qualified white kids out of their future.
CPO: You mean 'da Dub'; also the woman who brought that suit did not qualify for admission. That University is considered a 'public ivy'.
Quotas are BS, It is not up to our government to make a multiracial leadership in this country but allow those to build leadership based on their hard work. This is a form of redistribution at its finest! Liberals must truly believe that "Blacks and Hispanics" are not smart enough to enter college on their own! This is what racism is about, giving someones chances at college who worked hard to succeed to those who didn't work as hard because of the color of their skin! Wake up people, this is your future under the Democrats leadership!
It was one thing to use quotas when the quota was applied too a group containing 13% of the US population but when quotos are extended to groups that will contain45% of the populatiom,the quotas become oppressive to those not in that 45 percentile.Illegals with inferior high school educations and grades will rule the college entrances!
Civil Rights fights again? Why are we going there one more time? The Supreme Court decided that long ago. Is it because the new minority white population is trying to turn around what is law to their advantage? Or is it the confrontational new TEA-Republican's efforts to go back to previous times through the courts?
Rudy Gonzales
Why would you NOT want a level playing field & everyone to have the same opportunities at school &in employment? If you don't want to play fair, why play? Affirmative action is the admittance of some groups that they are not smart enough or don't want to work hard enough to get what they want out of life.
In a very short time frame,whites will be the minority in America.If affirmative action was available to minorties in the past,it should be made available to minorites in the future,even if means giving whites special treatment!
And what is wrong with turn about ? If it's good for one then it better be good for all. I expect every consideration everyone else has. Isn't that fair?
Minority status has little to do with actual numbers.
"There were people in my class with lower grades, who weren't in all the activities I was in, who were accepted into UT. And the only difference between us was the color of our skin," she said.
The university, backed by civil rights groups, contends that while the top 10 percent plan achieves some campus diversity, many of its classes would have only a few, if any, black and Hispanic students without additional considerations of race.
this appears to be saying black and Hispanic kids are not as intelligent as white and since it is coming from the school I wonder if that is a time provin statement based on grades. if so then maybe kids of these groups need to study harder so they can earn the same respect and education as other groups
see, i just thought that it meant that because of skin color, they were "bumped up a notch" thus pushing the others down a notch... kind of like if you went to test for a post office job, a minority that served in the armed forces gets a 15% or so score added to their grade... at least that was how it was 20 years ago...
pretty much saying the same thing arnt we but read it close it take the top 19% of students and then looks at race.
as far as a vet preferance point that is earned by actions, sometimes severe injuries, and is used mainly in federal jobs where that federal time is counted toward retirement
I totally agree Dean, Americans that served deserve the boost.
Please do explain how you arrived at that interpretation of the words, dean? I don't see that is what is being said at all.
So let me get this straight - America has evolved into a truly utopian society where the playing field is totally level, race is not an issue, and everyone is accepted equally regardless of race, social or economic background. My kids don't have to compete with those of privilege?
That sounds great! Wish I could live there...
Racism in the form of Affirmative Action makes you happy? Government employees don't have to be competent as long as they're not white? Students have to do well only if they are white? Thats utopia to you?
Jeff - I speak of utopia with sarcasm. But your simplistic view of white/not white, qualified/not qualified is naive. I'm sure I've lost out on jobs because of cronyism, not going to some Ivy league school, or my daddy didn't get me in. Basically, white men have had it made for a long time. Do I think Affirmative action has run its course? Perhaps. But the playing field is far from fair to this day...the day that it is, may the best man or woman win.
White men had it madewhen there was no Government control over success and success was based solely on merit. White men weren't the first men in the world. White men aren't the majority in any country. White men won when rewards were based on merit and ability. The playing field will never be fair while we celebrate diversity because all that does is raise failed cultures to the same level of successful cultures. Go to school and work hard is not equal to I have to look for my baby daddy.
I'm thinking when Biden said "Put yall back in chains" he was talking to white people.
He was talking to everyone at the rally, yes.
Minorities want Equal rights but Not too equal. The best and brightest should Always be given priority in schools and Jobs or else we will slide into third world status. Political correctness should not stand in the way of Intelligence. Does a company want the most qualified or a less qualified person because that person is a "Minority"? And what happens when White people become the "Minority in the not too distant future? Will White people have the same advantages that Minorities have now??? A Big HELL NO.
the gov. is trying to make us a 3rd world to make a one world gov. check agenda 21 its on the way if we let it
By June, DOMA will be a relic of our Jim Crow past.
Right wingers tend to believe in civil rights for themselves. Just not for others.
What is truly amazing is that most right wingers are just poor middle to lower middle class people the 1% take advantage of. They always vote against their own interest and support people who use them. Then they blame minorities for their problems. How on earth can they be so blind?
What is truly amazing is how the democrats have literally told the minorities that they are in fact ignorant and they still vote for them! It is time people start taking responsibility for their own lives which is why the right winger poor middle to lower middle class vote republican! They do not get upset if the guy down the street has a nicer car, they work harder so they can hopefully one day get one of their own! Affirmative action will only do more to dumb our society, giving degrees to those who truly have not earned them and then putting them in charge of the country!, Oh wait, that sounds like our President Obama!
Wrong, we absolutely believe in rights- we wish everyone would excel and achieve all they are capable of. What we do not believe in, is victim mentality, that someone owes you something because of your skin color. The idea of dumbing down qualifications for employment, or admission's is self defeating - no wonder we rank 24 worldwide in education. How about getting off your ass & hitting the books and making the grade! Not waiting on the Govt to dis-qualify a smarter, brighter more qualified candidate
Nicely Stated!
At least you believe in rights for heterosexuals.
Celtic
If all the "qualified" people are so abundant, white, black, green, or otherwise, why are there so many jobs out there that aren't being filled because there aren't enough qualified AMERICANS to fill them? Sounds like everyone needs to hit the books harder, right?
Skrekk - Good grief! Why is it ALWAYS about a person's sexual orientation? Why must people be defined by who they choose to sleep with? That you even mention homosexual "rights" indicates another form of special treatment that will have to be doled out. Please get over yourself and give us all some relief.
The reason it's an issue is because of bigots like you. People like you are why SCOTUS will be ruling on DOMA before June, because you were stupid enough to think that some Americans should be 2nd-class citizens.
If gays had full and equal rights it wouldn't be an issue.
@mintjulip ... based on your comments, I can only presume that you favor striking down DOMA since it focuses entirely on sexual orientation.
Praise the Lord, it's about time. Blacks have the same opportunities to learn as others do. Race should not be used for jobs either. In Dayton Ohio, they had to lower the passing score to get enough blacks to qualify for the police dept.
I've been to Dayton, Ohio.....major USAF base there.
I was not impressed. Not a place I would look foreward to moving to for a job with the local police department. Kinda like Youngstown.
You sure they don't lower the scores just so they can hire anyone as a police officer?
When California's Proposition 8 was proposed, the Supreme Court warned lawmakers that it would probably be ruled unconstitutional.
So get ta work, Your Honors..
Why should race have anything to do with admissions? If you meet the criteria you are admitted if you don't there are other schools. Why on earth would you want to admit someone who is not qualified to succeed? Why in earth would I want to use use professional services of someone who had to be spotted points? Talk about the dumbing down of America.
You ask some legitimate questions to an extremely difficult and complicated issue, but then add an opinion that shows you don't really want answers.
I don't have absolute answers or opinions in this case. On the one hand, the idea of affirmative action is a good and necessary one. Minorities in poor urban neighborhoods do not have the same opportunities. Someone like Romney is born on third base and thinks he hit a triple; someone in East LA is born in the on-deck circle and has to work just to get to bat. If everyone is treated exactly the same way, the rich white people from the good families and private schools will always win.
On the other hand, I saw affirmative action in law school, and it didn't work well. Some minorities in my class didn't belong there, and many dropped out the first year. There are really great black lawyers, but they are always facing the question by others whether they got there on merit or because of affirmative action. That's not fair to anyone who did not rely on anything but merit.
However, another kind of affirmative action is working well. The federal government has loans that it makes available to minority-owned businesses. It gives minorities opportunities that they may not otherwise have because of their skin color or racial background.
So really, all I can suggest is continue asking questions, doing research, learning the issues, and try to figure out what's best. I sure don't know. But it has nothing to do with any "dumbing down" of America, which is a glib response to a complex issue.
If she is pissed about affirmative action, maybe she should have worked harder and finished in the top 10 percent of her class. Believe me, I went to High School, that is not very hard to do. B**tching and moaning is one thing, but putting effort into something is another. If you want something that bad maybe you should work harder for it. If she was in the top 10% and didn't get in I could feel for her, but she isn't so I don't. There are many great universities in this nation, to fixate on one does seem childish. If she was a top student looking to get into a top program I could understand, but she is not so I do not feel for her. Sorry.
Where goper gangsters and the kangaroos they seated on the kourt is in question none of us are supposed to have any rights. In a conservathug society only those people rich enough to buy any rights are allowed to have them.
Why has every right-wing movement in history been more corrupt than the ones that came before? And violent, too.
DOMA is unconstitutional. Same Sex marriage will happen. Don't understand why people are so weird about it. Just another expression of love. But Americans don't really Love very much so maybe that is the problem. Still I just don't get it. So dumb.
Not as dumb as your post though which I dont get. Children are entitled to two parents of different genders as the genders are not the same and each has something to add.
Sounds like Jeff has confused marriage with having children, and also has some bizarre notions about gender roles.
WIN OR LOSE-BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY THIS ELECTION!
Listened to some of the entralled Obama votes celebrating the 2008 victory, "We gonna get that Obama Money NOW:" Where is going to come from? "From Obama's stash!"
Whether it is deceiving the most ignorant of the electorate or frightening our vulnerable Seniors with mediscare, Democrats never debate the issues: merely deal in deception, fear mongering, and character assassination. To be associated with the party is to hang with the lowest of the low. By thy friends n associates be known.
As far as History goes, I will never vote for a black man for president!! I will vote for the most qualified man to be president! If he happens to be black, so what! He has 95% of the black peoples vote! That means that there is a lot of racists black people too! Because to vote for someone based on their color is racists!
What did it mean when 90% of blacks voted for Gore in 2000?
I think it means that most blacks aren't so dumb and clueless as to vote for a Republican.
affermitive action a two edge sword on one side it produces good things by getting education.jobs and treatment on an even keel. on the other side it forces business to hire based on local demographics instead on most qualified for the job, a fire station i know well had to hire a woman based on different strength and agility qualifications and now her team mate is place in a position with someone who cant pull her own weight in a crises. the military has differnt streantgh and endurance standards for women then men yet they are expected to do the same jobs. i can tell you by experience that it is no fun to be in a hostile situation and have to carry your load and half of someone elses because they are not able to do it. and your platoon only moves and functions as well as its weakest member
My brother in law is in Special Forces and an officer; he wants no women in his FOX hole. He weighs 220 lbs and knows she could not carry him out of a battle.
"affermitive" ???
Are you for real? What's next: "We wuz goin' to da store" ?
It's great you have a chance to voice your opinion; it's predictably sad you didn't master the apostrophe ...which is what, 5th grade?
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
........FORWARD.........
hot daddy, your post really doesn't make much sense if we are discussing the article. Well in reality it doesn't make sense at all, but it is way off topic. What do you think about the article? Did you read it?
help me it makes perfect sense and is on topic they main topic here is affermitive action and the fact that it is not always a good thing. to have people on the job that cant do there part is asinign but required ny affermitive action
Saying that Alito is less tolerant of Affirmative Action (or any civil rights law, really) is like saying that Katrina was a bit of wind and rain. Alito, like all the rest of the right-wing Justices are a bunch of hate filled bigots. Even Uncle Tom Thomas.