Clarence Thomas Weighs in On Diversity

Original article here.

The Supreme Court is likely to rule that colleges may no longer consider race as a qualification for college applications. This has been a problem in America for many years as colleges aim to admit racially diverse incoming classes and overlook test scores in the process.

Even Elizabeth Warren falsely claimed to be Native American to gain access to a job at an Ivy League school, earning her the name of “Pocahontas.” The SCOTUS 6-3 conservative-liberal majority is reconsidering Affirmative Action in general. Justices Kagan and Jackson threw around the word “diverse” many times, but Clarence Thomas said that “diverse” has not been properly defined.

North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park told Thomas that diverse means “a broadly diverse set of criteria that expands to all different backgrounds and perspectives and not solely limited to race.” Thomas said he failed to see the educational benefits. “I’d like you to tell me expressly when a parent sends a kid to college that they don’t necessarily send them there to have fun or feel good or anything like that,” Thomas pressed. “They send them there to learn physics or chemistry or whatever their study. So tell me what the educational benefits are.”

When Park said that students perform better in a diverse environment, Thomas said he has heard “similar arguments in favor of segregation.” Thomas has long been a critic of Affirmative Action and believes it is in itself racist. He explained his beliefs in 2003:

“The Constitution abhors classifications based on race, not only because those classifications can harm favored races or are based on illegitimate motives, but also because every time the government places citizens on racial registers and makes race relevant to the provision of burdens or benefits, it demeans us all.”