Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action - Reason Foundation

4state and local governments, including state collegesand universities, to refrain from preferentialtreatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity,or national origin.The Sixth Circuit’s conclusion that a provisionthat bans race discrimination is unconstitutionallyracially discriminatory is profoundly counterintuitive.When the same argument was madewith respect to CCRI, California’s then-AttorneyGeneral Dan Lungren called it “Alice in Wonderland.”George Skelton, Making a Case that thePeople Have Spoken, Los Angeles Times (December16, 1996). And indeed, it has been rejected twice inCalifornia. See Coalition for Economic Equity v.Wilson, 122 F.3d 692 (9th Cir. 1997); Coral Construction,Inc. v. City of San Francisco, 235 P.3d947 (Cal. 2010).But that is only one among many problems withthe Sixth Circuit’s decision. For reasons Amici willelaborate upon at greater length below, the principalcase upon which majority relies—Washington v.Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1, 458 U.S. 457 (1982) (“SeattleSchool District”)—in fact provides, by its ownadmission, no support at all. See infra at SectionIA. In this summary, it is enough to point out thatSeattle School District was a 5-to-4 decision andthat the one and only thing that all nine membersagreed upon was that the argument adopted by theSixth Circuit should be rejected.In his dissent, Justice Powell expressed fearthat the logic of the majority’s decision could lead toabsurd results. Significantly, the absurd resultthat he envisioned is precisely what the Sixth Circuithas now embraced: