Brief of Amici Curiae California Association of Scholars, Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Reason Foundation and Individual Rights Foundation in Support of Petitioner in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action

Abstract

In this brief, filed before the Supreme Court in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, amici curiae argue:The Sixth Circuit erred in finding the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative to be unconstitutional.The logic of Hunter v. Erickson (1969) and Washington v. Seattle School District No. 1 (1982) can be applied only to laws that promote discrimination, not to law that forbid it.All laws work a re-structuring of the kind the Sixth Circuit condemns; that may be among the reasons the Supreme Court has quietly declined to follow Hunter even in cases in which it arguably could be applied.The Sixth Circuit's notion that questions of preferential treatment for racial minorities must be left at a low level of government is contrary to law and the political theory of the nation's founders.Voter Initiatives like the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative hold the key to improving the academic success of under-represented minority students.