Noble Injustice

By R.B. Parrish

Something strange happened along the road to Utopia: we ditched the supremacy of individual rights in favor of "the greatest good for the greatest number." One manifestation of this was affirmative action. In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), Justice Powell wrote: There is a measure of inequity in forcing innocent persons ... to bear the burdens of redressing grievances not of their making. But a sly concept was tucked into the opinion: an individual's rights might still be curtailed if this were done to serve a compelling government interest. What evolved next was seen in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). Sandra Day O'Connor declared that "diversity" was just such a compelling interest, and therefore race could indeed be considered one factor (among many) in determining school admissions. But not to worry: We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today. Yet how could we (or the justices) have expected this to be the stopping.... (Read Full Article)