Leave Antonin Scalia Alone

I just finished up my work for the semester in grad school. As a result I had some time recently to peek my head out and see what is going on in the world. I found social media going crazy with many people posting pictures of their degrees and listing their academic accomplishments. I found the uproar was over some questions raised by Justice Scalia  in the Fisher v. University of Texas arguments.

Many were claiming Scalia’s questioning suggested that he believes African-American students admitted to elite universities are not equipped for the rigor and therefore do not benefit from attending these schools.

Being an engineering graduate of the University of San Diego I might have been offended by this idea. But I always stop and check before joining the masses in social media outrage. And I am so glad I did.

I took a few minutes to actually read what Justice Scalia said. He says….

There are there are those who contend that it does not benefit African­-Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less­-advanced school, a less a slower­-track school where they do well. One of ­­the briefs pointed out that…most of the most of the black scientists in this country don’t come from schools like the University of Texas…They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they’re that they’re being pushed ahead in classes that are too fast for them…I’m just not impressed by the fact that that the University of Texas may have fewer. Maybe it ought to have fewer. And maybe some you know, when you take more, the number of blacks, really competent blacks admitted to lesser schools, turns out to be less. And… I don’t think it…stands to reason that it’s a good thing for the University of Texas to admit as many blacks as possible…

The first thing I notice is that he is not referencing his own views. He is referencing one of dozens of briefs that have been filed during the 2 decade life of this case.

The second thing that stood out to me is that this is not the first time I have heard this argument being raised. Then it came to me where I had heard it before. It was accomplished economist and author Thomas Sowell (who happens to be a black, ivy league graduate and professor) who I first encountered making this argument about the impact of affirmative action admission on black students. Thanks to the age of information we live in I was able to actually find an interview with Thomas Sowell pointing out this and other adverse of impacts of affirmative action around the world back in 1990. (fast forward to 19:30 to hear Thomas Sowell on this issue)

There is also a black justice on the court, Clarence Thomas. He raised similar questions the last time this case was before the court. Speaking of admission based on race he says…

The University admits minorities who otherwise would have attended less selective colleges where they would have been more evenly matched. But, as a result of the mismatching, many blacks and Hispanics who likely would have excelled at less elite schools are placed in a position where underperformance is all but inevitable because they are less academically prepared than the white and Asian students with whom they must compete. Setting aside the damage wreaked upon the self-confidence of these overmatched students, there is no evidence that they learn more at the University than they would have learned at other schools for which they were better prepared. Indeed, they may learn less.

What you will also recognize is Scalia is doing his job and raising alternate arguments to the legal representatives of the University of Texas. A simple reading of the text shows he is raising a question about data referenced in a brief he did not write. His statement says nothing about his personal stance. Even we assume the worst and he is found to be a raging racist, his question is about data and must be answered with data not social media posts. Either it is true that blacks admitted to top institutions on the basis of race tend to struggle more than those admitted to less prestigious schools or it is not and can be simply shown to be false.

Be proud of your degree. We need more more minority scholars both at elite and less than elite universities. But leave Scalia alone, he was doing his job.