23 Jun 2016 Affirmative Action Supreme Court Ruling in Fisher Today Gives “Reason to Fear the Future,” Says Project 21’s Joe Hicks

Washington, D.C. – Los Angeles political activist and longtime Project 21 member Joe Hicks is joining other colleagues in the Project 21 black leadership network who have expressed disappointment over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher v. University of Texas, a key affirmative action case, earlier today.

The high court ruled in favor of race-conscious university admissions.

With the Pacific Legal Foundation and others, Project 21 submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the case in September, and has twice before submitted friend of the court briefs in Fisher (here and here).

“Lacking the towering presence of Antonin Scalia, a majority Court opinion has said today that it is Constitutional to racially discriminate,” said Joe R. Hicks, a political analyst and Project 21 member. “Justice Kennedy, who has become an infamously erratic SCOTUS voice, joined the four reliably liberal justices to opine that ‘… race-conscious admission programs… [are] lawful.’ While voting today for racial preferences, Justice Kennedy (who wrote the majority opinion) scolded the University of Texas, saying the university has a duty to ‘minimize’ its use of race. Good luck on that. Universities around the nation, who literally worship at the altar of diversity, are joyful and will now feel emboldened to increase programs that advantage so-called ‘disadvantaged minorities’ while freely discriminating against all who are not.”

“To say that today’s decision is disappointing would be a serious understatement. Today, the Court has decided in a way that is nothing less than a blow for equality under the law. It panders to the left/liberal mantra of ‘classroom diversity,’ that even the University of Texas was too embarrassed to make in its SCOTUS arguments. With Scalia gone it makes clear the importance of a future president who will have the courage to appoint a voice on the Court who represents an adherence to strict ‘originalist’ Constitutional principles. However, this is a frightening thought. One presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, is poised to populate the Court with liberal nominees who believe the Constitution is a ‘living document,’ while the other, Donald Trump, appears woefully ignorant about the issues involved, is ideologically-erratic, and has boasted that he just might appoint his sister, a leftist Federal District judge. Meanwhile, today the Court has legalized discrimination… and there is reason to fear the future,” Hicks concluded.

Project 21 members Horace Cooper, Stacy Washington, Niger Innis and Darryn “Dutch” Martin all commented on today’s Fisher decision in another Project 21 press release, available here.

Project 21 has previously released seven press releases in the Fisher case since 2011 (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), quoting many of its leaders.

Video and audio recordings of very many Project 21 leaders discussing affirmative action on television and radio can be found on the National Center for Public Policy Research YouTube page. A Project 21 policy luncheon on the Schuette affirmative action case, featuring Jennifer Gratz, can also be viewed on the National Center YouTube page.

Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for over two decades, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (https://nationalcenter.org). Its volunteer members come from all walks of life and are not salaried political professionals.

Contributions to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

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