So the Supreme Court has handed down a decision rejecting race-conscious admissions policies for universities. See if you can guess which of the following headlines was from Fox News, and which was from NPR:

“Supreme Court rejects affirmative action in ruling on universities using race in admissions decisions”

“Supreme Court guts affirmative action, effectively ending race-conscious admissions”

Joe Biden wasted no time trying to undermine the Court’s legitimacy. A reporter asked if it was a “rogue court” (the definition of “rogue” presumably being “disagreeing with woke leftists”). He responded that it was “not a normal court” (“normal” presumably meaning “leftist”).

“Today, I am directing the Department of Education to analyze what practices help build more inclusive and diverse student bodies … We cannot let this decision be the last word. The court can render a decision, it cannot change what America stands for”, said the President, hinting at his intention to circumvent the decision. To his credit, however, he rejected suggestions of packing the Supreme Court.

“I think that some of the court are beginning to realize their legitimacy is being questioned,” he told MSNBC. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmekpMxhFmg) He went on to claim that the court was out of touch with American values; the fawning woke reporter agrees.

But of course, it is Biden and the woke media who are out of touch. Three quarters of Americans, including most Democrats, are against affirmative action. (https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/317006/affirmative-action-public-opinion.aspx) Even California, the bluest state you can find, banned affirmative action decades ago. They had to do it via a ballot initiative (prop 209), since the political elites wouldn’t do it.

The Congressional Black Caucus, similarly, claimed that the decision cast doubt on the Court’s legitimacy. (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/black-caucus-says-supreme-court-has-thrown-into-question-its-own-legitimacy-with-affirmative-action-ruling/ar-AA1ddEPR) It seems that the left has adopted the Trumpian theory of legitimacy: The outcome is legitimate if and only if our side wins.

They went on to say that they can’t let extremists turn back the clock on progress. But of course, they’re the extremists who are trying to turn back progress. Only the most extreme voices on the left (wokists) and right (white supremacists) want to keep admitting and hiring people based on skin color.

The legitimate outcome is not to keep letting the small minority of loud extremists determine the direction of the country by lying about the content of the law.

Predictably, some people are attacking Clarence Thomas for (a) having once benefitted from affirmative action, and yet (b) now voting to discontinue it. You see how bad he is?

I believe the legal and moral theory here is this: An impartial judge should always vote to uphold any policy that personally benefits himself. That’s clearly what justice demands.

Many news stories are naively announcing the end of racial preferences in higher education. I have news for you: The Academy has no intention whatsoever of following the law in good faith.

Within hours, American universities started releasing defiant, woke responses to the Supreme Court decision:

“The ruling will not change our values or efforts to become a more diverse university community. … UM’s experiences demonstrate … that it is much more difficult to achieve racial diversity in the student body using only race-neutral methods than by including race in the admissions process in a narrowly-tailored manner. … In the face of these challenges, we persist.” (https://publicaffairs.vpcomm.umich.edu/key-issues/affirmative-action/)

“As we prepare to comply with the law, our commitment to our values is unwavering. Diversity is a positive force across every dimension of Columbia, and we can and must find a durable and meaningful path to preserve it.” (https://news.columbia.edu/news/columbia-issues-statement-affirmative-action-cases)

“While we review today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, Indiana University reaffirms our commitment to fostering a learning environment that is enriched by students, faculty and staff with a broad range of backgrounds…” (https://bloomingtonian.com/2023/06/30/indiana-university-statements-on-scotus-ruling-regarding-affirmative-action/)

“CU Boulder will continue to … aggressively recruit students from minoritized backgrounds.” (https://www.colorado.edu/today/2023/06/29/supreme-court-decision-affirmative-action-statement-chancellor-distefano)

Translation: “Fear not, comrades! One way or another, we will circumvent the Supreme Court’s decision.”

Of course they weren’t going to outright say, “We plan to violate the law.” But they came about as close to it as they could. Anyone who has worked in a university for a few years knows that universities have no interest in following laws that conflict with woke ideology. The first quote above alludes to the strategy of deliberately