Do Preferentialists Prefer Plessy?

6 March 2003

I think so. I think anyone who defends racial preferences must reject Justice John Marshall Harlan’s stirring comment in Plessy that “our Constitution is colorblind” and agree with the majority’s holding in that case the 14th Amendment does not require colorblindness.

In that regard, it is no accident (as we deep conspiracy theorists always say) that today colleges are vehmently defending some programs that altogether exclude students on the basis of race. See my discussion of their behavior several posts below, here, and especially the comments that have recently been added.

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  1. Preferentialists Prefer Plessy March 20, 2012 at 5:14 pm |

    […] a number of occasions I’ve asked, Do Preferentialists Prefer Plessy? And my answer is always the same: yes. As I wrote here: It is one of the many ironies in the […]

  2. Ward Connerly At UVa Law School March 22, 2012 at 3:48 pm |

    […] made this point on my blog too many times over the past decade to cite, but representative are Do Preferentialists Prefer Plessy?, Preferentialists Prefer Plessy, Equal Protection And Original Intent, and Balking At Balkin On […]

  3. More On Fisher And Original Intent September 17, 2012 at 3:04 pm |

    […] v. Board would be a figment of our imagination rather than law. See discussions of this point here, here, here, and here, among other […]

  4. Scott Johnson Gets It Right March 31, 2013 at 3:21 pm |

    […] March 2003:  …  anyone who defends racial preferences must reject Justice John Marshall Harlan’s stirring comment in Plessy that “our Constitution is colorblind” and agree with the majority’s holding in that case the 14th Amendment does not require colorblindness. […]

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