Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action Will Have Devastating Effects

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I also thank her and the gentleman from Illinois for talking about the importance for opportunity and a recognition of the history of discrimination in the United States.

The Supreme Court has long held that our Nation has a compelling interest in creating racially diverse college campuses.

Holistic college admissions practices that narrowly tailor the use of race as one of many factors in evaluating prospective students are a key to fostering such diversity in a college campus environment.

Such admissions policies not only help the historically underserved students, research confirms that diverse campuses also provide all students with a better quality, well-rounded education.

Last month, the Supreme Court decided, with little regard for precedent, that Harvard's and the University of North Carolina's pursuit of these compelling interests is unconstitutional.

Regrettably, the Supreme Court's decision is a setback in our effort to eliminate invidious disparities in access to higher education and an effort to ensure diverse learning environments for all students.

Now that it is done, it is imperative that we review all other facets of college admissions that research shows may be racially discriminatory and have a disparate impact and determine if they, too, need to be eliminated, given this ruling.

Now, there are admissions factors to take into consideration: Racially inequitable K-12 schooling opportunities, racially biased admissions tests, the legacy admissions that have been mentioned, and other factors that may have a discriminatory impact.

Now, race-conscious affirmative action provides a counterbalance to these discriminatory practices, but since the Court has invalidated that balance, we must now review all current admissions practices to see if they, too, have disparate impact so that we can see whether or not they are in violation of the Equal Protection Clause or Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

To facilitate that review, we must pass the Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act. This bill that has been pending for several years would hold federally funded programs, including schools, accountable for providing students with equal access to education by restoring a private right of action for students and parents to bring disparate impact claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

Because of a Supreme Court's interpretation about 20 years ago, there is no longer a private right of action in Title VI cases. Those cases based on disparate impact must be brought by the Federal Government. So if there is discrimination going on, the Federal Government has to run around the country and find it. If it is going on in your community and you know it, you can't bring that individual case.

Mr. Speaker, Justice Sotomayor said it best in her dissent when she said that: ``Ignoring race will not equalize a society that is racially unequal. What was true in the 1860s, and again in 1954, is true today: Equality requires acknowledgment of inequality.''

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