[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8548-S8549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPREME COURT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DECISION
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, on Monday, in a landmark decision, the
Supreme Court made clear that colleges and universities can adopt
admissions policies that take students' racial and ethnic background
into account to achieve a diverse student body. The Court's decision is
a resounding vindication for the fundamental principle that affirmative
action can be used in education to promote opportunity for all, and
encourage interaction among students of diverse backgrounds.
Our diversity is our greatest strength, and this decision recognizes
the broad benefits of diversity in higher education. A diverse student
body benefits all students at our colleges and universities and helps
prepare students for our increasingly diverse workforce and our diverse
society.
As the opinion of Justice O'Connor states, ``Major American
businesses have made clear that the skills needed in today's
increasingly global marketplace can only be developed through exposure
to widely diverse people, cultures, ideas and viewpoints.'' High-
ranking military leaders, too, have stated that affirmative action is
necessary for promoting a ``qualified, racially diverse officer
corps,'' to enable the Armed Forces to protect national security.
The Court's decision supports the paramount importance of education
as a gateway to equal opportunity, reaffirming once again the Court's
historic decision nearly 50 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education.
Few areas are as vital to sustaining our democracy that education. Our
institutions of higher education, like our public schools, are
indispensable in broadening the minds of young adults, and training
them for leadership.
As the Court stated in Brown, and emphasized again in Monday's
opinion, ``Education is the very foundation of good citizenship.'' The
Nation is becoming increasingly diverse, and it is important for all
our institutions to reflect that rich diversity.
The Court stated: ``In order to cultivate a set of leaders with
legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path
to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of
every race and ethnicity. Access to education must be inclusive of
talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity, so that
all members of our heterogeneous society may participate in the
education institutions that provide the training and education
necessary to succeed in America.''
The Supreme Court has made clear that a well-crafted affirmative
action admissions program like that of the University of Michigan Law
School is constitutional. It is flexible and allows for individualized
review of each applicant, and it is not a quota. The Court also made
clear that States do not have to promote diversity only by relying on
percentage plan programs which guarantee college admission to all
students above a certain class-rank in every high school graduating
class in the State.
As the Court recognized, such programs do not work for graduate and
professional schools. In fact, percentage plans can prevent colleges
and universities from making the individualized assessment of
applicants that is necessary to assemble a diverse student body.
Our country has made extraordinary progress over the past half
century toward equality of opportunity in all aspects of our society,
and affirmative action has been an indispensable part of that success.
But we all know that we have to do more to make the promise of Brown a
reality. Even with affirmative action, vast inequities remain in access
to higher education especially for African-Americans and Latinos.
We know that civil rights is still the unfinished business in
America. Half a century after Brown, our schools remain starkly divided
along racial and ethnic lines, and minority children are too often
relegated to inadequate schools. We have to do more to see that
minority children are not forced to think of an institution like the
University of Michigan as an impossible dream. This decision by the
Supreme Court is another major step by the Court to make that dream
possible, and it is difficult to believe that either this Congress or
this President would approve a Supreme Court nominee who would reverse
that decision.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, it has been nearly 50 years since the
Supreme Court ruled segregation in schools unconstitutional in Brown v.
Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Then-Chief Justice Earl Warren
said: ``We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine
of `separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities
are inherently unequal.''
This week, the tenet of equality that lies at the foundation of the
Brown decision was reaffirmed and strengthened. In fact, it is becoming
more and
[[Page S8549]]
more infused into our Nation's increasingly diverse identity.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the principle that
diversity is a compelling national interest and that race can be a
factor in higher education admissions decisions. The Court upheld the
admissions policy at the University of Michigan Law School in Grutter
v. Bollinger.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, on behalf of the 5-to-4 majority and
citing Brown, wrote: ``This Court has long recognized that 'education .
. . is the very foundation of good citizenship.''
Justice O'Connor and the Supreme Court found the use of race in the
Michigan Law School admissions policy consistent with the aspirations
of the 1954 Supreme Court in deciding Brown. O'Connor stated for the
Court:
In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in
the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to
leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified
individuals of every race and ethnicity. All members of our
heterogeneous society must have confidence in the openness
and integrity of the educational institutions with which the
law interacts . . . Access to legal education (and thus, the
legal profession) must be inclusive of talented and qualified
individuals of every race and ethnicity, so that all members
of our heterogenous society may participate in the
educational institutions that provide the training and
education necessary to succeed in America.
The Court's decision keeps this country on a path toward the day when
our children and our children's children will not be able to envision a
pre-Brown v. Board America. In fact, Justice O'Connor cites the Brown
opinion in writing the Grutter decision. Justice O'Connor's words
reflect a powerful American value that is really a strength of our
Nation--diversity. It is in the best interest of all Americans to seek
diversity in all segments of our society, including educational
institutions, the military, and the workplace. To fail to do so, in
fact, would be to misrepresent our national identity.
I am heartened, by the large number of amicus briefs filed in support
of affirmative action. These briefs showed the Court the deep
importance of diversity to so many people and institutions across the
Nation. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to join Senator
Kennedy and several of our colleagues in signing one such brief, urging
the court to uphold the Bakke decision and support Michigan's admission
policies.
One of the greatest strengths of our Nation is its guarantee of equal
educational opportunities for all students. Our Nation's colleges and
universities are the envy of the world for their rigorous courses of
study and high-caliber professors, but also for their enriching
environment of students from a range of racial, ethnic, and social and
economic backgrounds representing every part of America, if not the
world. I am proud that the Court has affirmed the importance of campus
diversity and deemed it a constitutionally permissible governmental
interest.
In the Grutter case, the Court decisively allowed race and ethnicity
to be considered in combination with other factors in an admissions
decision. I don't believe that the decision striking down the specific
point system used in the undergraduate admissions policy will be a
serious impediment to the implementation of race-sensitive admissions
policies at colleges and universities.
In the 50 years since the walls of segregation began to crumble, we
have traveled many miles on the road toward guaranteeing civil rights
to all Americans. But this week's decision affirming diversity as a
compelling national interest--and thus declaring affirmative action
constitutional and viable--confirms our Nation's progress in ways
unmeasurable by miles or years. The Court's decision is more than a
victory. It is a milestone. It is a testament to the strength of Brown
and our Constitution's equal protection guarantees.
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