Affirmative Action and the Mistakes of Schuette

Abstract

It's not time for income-based affirmative action; race-based preference is still vital in the United States given the country's history of slavery and its continuing, pervasive racial discrimination. To think otherwise is selective memory loss.

The Schuette decision upheld the right of Michigan voters to prohibit affirmative action in admissions to state colleges and universities. But that reasoning is flawed in two ways. First, affirmative action is characterized as an unfair preference rather than a justified remedy. And second, the decision whether to ban affirmative action is left to the electoral process.

Keywords: race-based affirmative action, income-based affirmative action, racial discrimination, Schuette decision, Michigan, colleges, universities, electoral process, civil rights

JEL Classification: J71, J78, J79, K19, K39, K49, I28, I29