Roberts worked for race preferences in Grutter v. Bollinger

If you’re looking for evidence of the total betrayal of conservative principles by President Bush and the conservative movement, then John Roberts—nominated by the former and staunchly supported by the latter—is the gift that doesn’t stop giving. Name the hot-button issue, and it turns out that ol’ John has devoted his much touted legal brilliance to helping the liberal side of it. According to an approving article in Inside Higher Ed, Roberts “participated in discussions on preparing a brief, filed by a coalition of higher education associations, defending the use of affirmative action.” The reference is to Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, the latter of which, in a radical decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, placed race-conscious university admissions in the U.S. Constitution. The story continues:

Sheldon E. Steinbach, vice president and general counsel of the American Council on Education, has worked with Roberts on many cases and praises him as someone with “a superior understanding, interest and knowledge about both K-12 and higher education.”

Steinbach said that Roberts helped in the discussions at Hogan & Hartson about an amicus brief that the ACE organized on behalf of dozens of higher education groups in defense of affirmative action. The brief—strongly supportive of affirmative action—was filed in two Supreme Court cases, decided in 2003, about admissions policies at the University of Michigan.

“I don’t know what his stand is on affirmative action. But I do know that he played a role in the amicus brief” and that his “intellectual firepower” strengthened the arguments, Steinbach said.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 18, 2005 10:16 AM | Send