Bush May Join Affirmative Action Case
28 minutes ago
URL:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=544&ncid=716&e=3&u=/ap/20030115/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_affirmative_action
By RON FOURNIER, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) plans to challenge a University of Michigan program that gives preference to minority students, telling the Supreme Court there are better ways to promote diversity, administration officials say.
AP Photo
Justice Department (news - web sites) and White House attorneys, acting on Bush's orders, worked Tuesday night on a brief arguing against programs that gave black and Hispanic students an edge when applying to the university and its law school.
Without confirming Bush's plans, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said the president was to meet again Wednesday with his advisers to review the brief.
"He wants to find a way to recognize the importance of diversity, and do so in a way that serves one and all," Fleischer told reporters. "The challenge is to focus on diversity in ways that do not use quotas."
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle called it "a watershed moment for the administration. They have to decide whether they're for civil rights and diversity or not."
"I think the burden of proof will be on Republicans to show us how they can be for diversity and yet be against the laws that promulgate diversity," the South Dakotan said.
The lawsuit brought by three white students is the biggest affirmative action case in a generation, a political lightning rod as Bush struggles to increase his party's appeal to minorities. Fleischer outlined Bush's philosophy moments after announcing the president's plans to commemorate Martin Luther King's birthday and increase aid to Africa.
The university's undergraduate program awards extra points to minority candidates, while the law school uses race as one of many factors that could enhance an applicant's chances.
The president had not given his final approval of the brief early Wednesday, officials said, but he was familiar with its contents and was expected to give lawyers the go-ahead before Thursday's deadline.
Key details were still being debated, including whether to use the case to make a sweeping statement against racial quotas or rather stake out a more limited challenge to the Michigan program's constitutionality.
Bush administration lawyers intend to praise the merits of diversity in higher education, but argue that the University of Michigan's approach is wrong, officials said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
The brief is expected to highlight a university admissions program founded in Texas while Bush was governor, and affirmative action opinions by the Clinton administration that seem to support the president's views, they said.
In Texas, Bush opposed racial preferences in public universities and proposed instead that students graduating in the top 10 percent of all high schools be eligible for admission. Supporters say the policy increased diversity without making race a direct factor in admissions policies, because many high schools are made up largely of minority students.
Critics said Bush's plan was a blow to affirmative action programs that have helped minorities overcome social obstacles.
The officials said administration lawyers could argue that the university's program relies too much on race and leave open the question of whether schools could use other methods of assuring a diverse student body.
Some administration lawyers have argued that any policy based on race or ethnic status is unconstitutional and that the goal of a diverse student body is not enough to justify using race to guide admissions.
The case, the biggest issue facing the Supreme Court this year, is politically charged issue in the aftermath of Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record)'s remarks that seemed to show nostalgia for segregation. The Mississippi lawmaker was forced to step down last month as Senate Republican leader amid harsh criticism from Bush.
The president must balance the desires of his conservative backers, who tend to staunchly oppose affirmative action, against potential fallout from the broader electorate if he is viewed as being racially insensitive.
Officials said Justice Department lawyers, led by Solicitor General Ted Olson, have argued that race should never be a factor in admissions. Some of Bush's top advisers, including political aide Karl Rove and top White House lawyer Alberto Gonzales, have sought to steer Bush toward a politically safer course, officials said.
Bush's intervention would not be a surprise. He campaigned against racial quotas and preferences in 2000 and his advisers said last week they were laying the groundwork for intervening in the Michigan case.
Administration officials said there are other state programs that promote diversity without quotas or preferences that could also serve as models.
The administration is not a party to the Michigan fight and does not have to take a position. Traditionally, however, the White House weighs in on potential landmark cases.
In 1997, the Justice Department under Clinton supported a white high school teacher's claim that she suffered reverse discrimination when laid off from her job. A black teacher was retained.
Clinton administration lawyers argued that the school district's affirmative action policy went too far and could not be justified merely by the notion that a diverse teacher corps is a worthy goal.
"A simple desire to promote diversity for its own sake ... is not a permissible basis for taking race into account," the government said then. |
