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Article: Affirmative action: is it democratic?
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- January 24, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IN 1971 Marco DeFunis was denied admission to the University of Washington Law School, even though his grades and aptitude test scores were superior to those of "virtually all the black students who were accepted." He sued. The Washington State Supreme Court upheld the university's action, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear DeFunis's appeal. Since the other eight justices were equally divided William O. Douglas held the swing vote. Douglas's recently opened papers reveal uncharacteristic indecision. "He seemed genuinely torn," notes Nicholas Lemann in a perceptive essay on affirmative action.
On the one hand, Douglas opposed racial preferences; on the other, ...