Sixty-three percent of Americans say colleges shouldn't consider race in admissions, according to a Washington Post poll. Blacks are split, while two-thirds of whites and Asian Americans and 60 percent of Hispanics oppose racial preferences.
On the other hand, 64 percent said "programs designed to increase the racial diversity of students on college campuses are a good thing."
"In two lawsuits before the high court, a group called Students for Fair Admissions alleges that Harvard and UNC-Chapel Hill practice unlawful discrimination, putting too much weight on race, to the benefit of Black and Latino applicants and the detriment of those who are Asian American or White," reports the Post. "The universities deny the charge, and lower courts ruled in their favor." Respondents to the poll believe that applicants from high-income families have an "unfair advantage" in admissions.
Racial preferences always poll badly. In a May poll this year by Pew Research, 74 percent said race and ethnicity should not a factor in admissions. That includes 79 percent for whites, 68 percent for Hispanics, 63 percent for Asian Americans and 59 percent for blacks.
The 14th Amendment, section 1: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Discrimination by State (i.e., government, generally) actors on the basis of race violates the 14th Amendment. Prior to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, non-State actors could discriminate on the basis of any…