Democrats are destroying institutional norms in the name of “saving democracy.”
Since they no longer control the Supreme Court, they view it as illegitimate.
And now Gavin Newsom’s state is fighting hard to get around one Supreme Court ruling.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that race-based admissions for college enrollment were unconstitutional, but the Democrats don’t care.
The Left has built an entire ethos on identity politics, so they have to be able to discriminate based on race and other immutable characteristics, Constitution be damned.
That’s likely why the Democrat supermajority in the California legislature is calling a hearing on ACA7, which would amend the state constitution.
Backdoor affirmative action?
The language in the California Constitution that the Democrats are attempting to circumvent reads: “the State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
In 2020, the Democrats tried to pass a ballot initiative that reversed the law, but it failed, even in liberal California.
But the Democrats are not giving up.
ACA7 would add the following amendment: “[T]he State may use state moneys to fund research-based, or research-informed, and culturally specific programs in any industry, including, but not limited to, public employment, public education, and public contracting, if those programs are established or otherwise implemented by the State for purposes of increasing the life expectancy of, improving educational outcomes for, or lifting out of poverty specific groups based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, or marginalized genders, sexes, or sexual orientations.”
The language is intentionally overbroad and all-encompassing.
If it passes, then universities could again explicitly use identity politics in the admissions process.
California Democrats would have everyone believe they’re righting an historic wrong
In 1996, California got rid of affirmative action in admissions, and black graduation rates as well as black honor roll participation rates increased.
But the Democrats don’t seem interested in results; their theories are more important.
In the landmark ruling that overturned race-based admissions, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurrence, “While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States: that all men are created equal, are equal citizens, and must be treated equally before the law.”
Democrats have seemingly given up on this ideal.
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for any updates to this ongoing story.
