Another Barrier to Affirmative Action

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a Michigan ballot prop that banned affirmative action (AA) in university admissions obviously means that California's similar Prop 209 ban is not open to challenge at the Supreme Court.  Blog readers will know that legislative Dems had planned to put a prop on the ballot repealing 209.  But then two things happened.  1) They lost the 2/3 needed in the state senate to put a constitutional amendments on the ballot, thanks to the suspension of 3 senators.  And 2) Asian-background legislators dropped their support of the repeal prop when their constituents complained. 

Given the direction of the Supreme Court and the political developments at the state level, it appears that Prop 209 will remain in effect for the indefinite future.  The Daily Bruin quotes a lawyer for the BAM group - the one that yells at Napolitano at Regents meetings - as saying the decision will not stand.  See: http://dailybruin.com/2014/04/22/supreme-court-upholds-michigans-affirmative-action-ban/  What does that mean?  You can't appeal a Supreme Court decision.  But the lawyer's name is George Washington (I kid you not), so maybe he knows something.

Inside Higher Ed's coverage is at:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/04/22/supreme-court-upholds-right-state-voters-bar-consideration-race-admissions