affirmative action. Even before her nomination, the word furiously circulated in some circles that during her six-year tenure as dean of Harvard University Law School, Kagan had an abominable record on recruiting and hiring minority professors. --- of course - she's jewish
our SC justices should be Americans On May 11, 6:17 am, Bruce Majors <[email protected]> wrote: > He's the only person of color she knows > > Kagan’s Affirmative Action Achilles' Heel > > New America Media, Commentary, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Posted: May 10, > 2010 [image: > Review it on NewsTrust] > > Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan will plop an issue back on the nation’s > table that hasn’t been seen or heard from in what seems like ages. And > that’s affirmative action. Even before her nomination, the word furiously > circulated in some circles that during her six-year tenure as dean of > Harvard University Law School, Kagan had an abominable record on recruiting > and hiring minority professors. > > At first glance, her record indeed looks atrocious. Of the law school’s 29 > new hires, 23 were white men, five were white women, and one was an > Asian-American woman. There was not one black or Latino professor in the > bunch. > > When the dismal figure was released, the White House quickly pushed back. It > issued a detailed fact sheet that essentially said that her zero-hire of a > black or Latino faculty member was grossly misleading. In fact, the White > House said, Kagan had offered several African-American and Latino candidates > “visiting offers,” or invitations to be visiting lecturers. That’s not the > same as a permanent offer for a faculty spot. But the inference was that a > visiting offer, if accepted, could lead to an offer of a permanent faculty > position. That didn’t happen. The visiting offers were not accepted. That in > itself is not a prima facie case to say that Kagan deliberately pushed > diversity to the back burner at Harvard. Or even that she did not make a > sincere effort to recruit minority faculty members. There are always > factors, big, little and unseen, in the business of faculty hires at major > universities. > > But Kagan’s record on minority hires still stands -- 29 faculty hires, and > no black or Latino hires. This is hardly a moot point. There are two major > reasons that President Obama nominated Kagan. The first is pragmatic > politics. She already went through the confirmation wars as the > administration’s solicitor general and is widely considered a > consensus-building, judicial moderate. That’s least likely to ignite a > prolonged and divisive fight over her nomination. The second reason is just > as crucial. She is supposedly the breathing embodiment of diversity. > > At a presidential campaign appearance in 2007, Obama was emphatic in > demanding that a Supreme Court pick be someone who had empathy for the poor, > minorities, disabled and elderly. In the Senate, he ferociously attacked and > voted against the confirmation of Bush nominees John J. Roberts and Samuel > Alito, again precisely because they were hardly cheerleaders for diversity. > In their views and rulings, they were hard-line conservative ideologues who > did everything possible to subvert diversity. Obama promised there would be > no ideological litmus test in his court picks. However, diversity seemed > clearly a prime consideration in his choice of a high court judge. > > This is not an academic balancing act to get the requisite number of black, > Latino and women justices on the court. The issue of diversity is a fierce > battleground in law and public policy. There are countless cases that > invariably wind up contested before the high court on gender, age, > disability, racial discrimination, abortion, the death penalty, prisoner and > victim rights, and corporate practices. The issues are highly complex, raise > important legal and social questions, and are always contentious. Kagan will > be in the thick of the court debate on these cases for years to come. > > Conservative judicial watchdog groups know the importance of the diversity > battle in court rulings better than any other group. They examine all > potential Supreme Court picks, and they wage endless wars in their journals, > news articles, blogs, and position papers on the need for strict > constructionist, diversity-neutral judicial picks. They rush to the > barricades in their fight to insure that high court picks will not have > views that tilt toward a bias for minority rights. They rally public opinion > and Senate Republicans to battle against any such judicial pick. > > The irony is that Kagan’s blurred record on diverse faculty hiring at > Harvard Law School may actually keep her out of harm’s way from conservative > critics -- at least on the issue of affirmative action. This should trouble > liberals and progressives who expect President Obama’s high court nominee to > take a firm stand on the one issue that matters to them, and to the > president, and that’s a solid commitment to diversity. The jury is still out > on Kagan on this one. > > *Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is > How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge (Middle Passage Press). > * > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help seehttp://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community athttp://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
