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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: affirmative action

affirmative action stories: 16 news summaries
ANALYSIS

Firefighter Ruling Leaves Guidelines as Muddy as Ever

Employers likely to ditch written tests altogether to avoid discrimination suits

Jun 30, 09 7:47 AM CDT
(Newser) - Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in favor of a group of white firefighters looks likely to be a boon for employment lawyers instead of cities seeking clear guidance, experts tell the New York Times. The court's ruling makes it harder for employers to chuck out tests that overwhelmingly favor whites, and... More »

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workplace discrimination • discrimination • affirmative action • US Supreme Court • racial equality • racial discrimination

High Court Rules for White Firefighters

5-4 decision reverses appeals panel that included Sotomayor

Jun 29, 09 9:31 AM CDT
(AP) - The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge. In a 5-4 ruling along ideological lines, the court said that New Haven was wrong... More »

MORE ABOUT:
race relations • firefighters • affirmative action • US Supreme Court • Sonia Sotomayor • Ricci v. DeStefano

Critics Blast Congress for Lack of Staff Diversity

NFL hiring rule may translate to Capitol Hill

Jun 26, 09 10:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Congressional staffs are so overwhelmingly white that Capitol Hill needs its own version of the NFL rule requiring teams hiring a head coach to interview at least one person of color, critics tell the Hill. Frustrated staffers, lobbyists, and aides point out that even though more minorities are being elected,... More »

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Congress • NFL • Senate • football • House of Representatives • Capitol Hill • affirmative action • federal employees • US Senate • Rooney Rule • congressional staff

ANALYSIS

Similar Lives Led Sotomayor, Thomas Down Different Paths

On and off the bench, they often work at cross-purposes

Jun 7, 09 11:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - The lives of Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas have parallels—humble beginnings, fatherless childhoods, Yale Law, affirmative action—but their conclusions are contrary. “For the first time, the Supreme Court would include two minority judges, but ones who stand at opposite poles of thinking about race, identity, and opportunity,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
race • affirmative action • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • ethnic diversity • Sonia Sotomayor

OPINION

Ahead of Senate Hearings, Racism Charges Fly


Jun 2, 09 10:34 AM CDT
(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor’s views on race have become a hot button topic. But it’s just Republican “race mongering,” writes Derrick Jackson of the Boston Globe. Remember, the GOP “has been the party of racial code words,” from Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” to Reagan’... More »

MORE ABOUT:
race • race relations • affirmative action • US Supreme Court • Jonah Goldberg • Sonia Sotomayor • Derrick Jackson

OPINION

Sotomayor Shows Democrats' True Face

Confirm her, but make sure the country sees what it voted for

May 29, 09 9:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - The people voted for Democrats, and Sonia Sotomayor reflects the views of the winning party. For that, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post, she deserves confirmation. But Republicans should seize the moment to illustrate what liberalism leads to. They should call Frank Ricci, the firefighter Sotomayor denied promotion. “... More »

MORE ABOUT:
affirmative action • Frank Rich • US Supreme Court • Obama administration • Sonia Sotomayor

Sarkozy Makes an Un-French Call for Diversity

President vows to end 'equality' policy that ignores race, ethnicity

Dec 18, 08 6:18 AM CST
(Newser) - France has a long tradition of official blindness to race, ethnicity, and religion; all citizens, in theory, are equally French. But in practice, French companies are reluctant to hire employees with non-French names or addresses in ethnic neighborhoods, and France's 555-member parliament has only 1 MP of color. In a... More »

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race • Nicolas Sarkozy • France • affirmative action • diversity • change • elite

OPINION

 Housing Meltdown
 Not a Racial Issue 

Conservative commentators have chosen the wrong scapegoat

Sep 27, 08 4:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Some conservative commentators have bypassed greedy Wall Street firms, reckless lenders, and a government asleep at the wheel to blame minorities for the credit crisis, Cynthia Tucker observes in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This a misguided move for many reasons, she writes. For starters, the affirmative action lending programs they... More »

MORE ABOUT:
subprime mortgages • affirmative action • Neil Cavuto • credit crisis • minorities • subprime crisis

 In Harvard Law
 Review Presidency,
 Signs for the Future 

Let in conservative ideas, kept even keel

Jun 23, 08 4:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - As president of the Harvard Law Review, Barack Obama gave voice to a mix of conservative and liberal ideas and "maneuvered his way around pretty well," says the author of a new book about Harvard Law School. Politico dissects Obama's 1990-91 tenure in search of omens in the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • affirmative action • Harvard Law School • bipartisanship • Harvard Law Review • Susan Estrich

Obama's Rise Sparks Affirmative Action Debate

Candidate's success has some calling for a rethink of equality policies

Jun 14, 08 6:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama's ascent to the verge of the presidency has stoked the debate on affirmative action, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some wonder how far an African-American will have to rise for the playing field to be declared level, while others point to continued inequality and argue that Obama doesn't... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • race relations • affirmative action • civil rights

OPINION

'Wingnutty' Webb Can't
Be Obama VP

Loose cannon off-base on women, civil rights; won't get white vote

May 28, 08 8:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - Many liberals are pining for James Webb to be added to a Barack Obama ticket, but the Virginia senator is “completely unacceptable”—severely lacking on affirmative action (which he has called “state-sponsored racism”), on women’s issues (he’s said females in the military “poison”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • women's rights • affirmative action • vice president • James Webb • vice presidential sweepstakes • temper

OPINION

Red Herrings Abound on Campaign Trail

Amid talk of elitism, privilege, it's not all black and white

Apr 25, 08 3:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - Maybe Geraldine Ferraro and BET founder Bob Johnson are right about Barack Obama’s success, Colson Whitehead sarcastically posits in the New York Times. "The Guy Who’s Where He Is Only Because He’s Black" runs down his busy schedule and puzzles over the fact that "the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • race • affirmative action • Geraldine Ferraro • Bob Johnson

OPINION

What Makes a Black Sellout?

New book defends Clarence Thomas, complicates race debate: Salon

Jan 21, 08 8:59 PM CST
(Newser) - A black intellectual's new book, Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal, goes easy on Clarence Thomas for dissing the very affirmative action that helped him succeed, Salon's James Hannaham writes. Does that make Sellout author Randall Kennedy a sellout? Maybe Kennedy is able to do what free-thinking blacks must: "... More »

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race • African Americans • affirmative action • black • Clarence Thomas • orthodoxy • selling out

Economist: No To South Africa Sports Quotas

Athletic affirmative action ‘mocks’ merit in racially mixed nation

Oct 25, 07 5:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - The World Cup-winning South African rugby team shouldn’t be saddled with racial quotas, says the Economist: It’s exactly the wrong kind of affirmative action and would “mock the principle of merit.” One might think, the piece allows, the South African case would be the ultimate argument... More »

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South Africa • athlete • affirmative action • rugby • apartheid

New Court Overturns O'Connor

Dahlia Lithwick writes on the jurist's fast- dismantled legacy

Jul 10, 07 6:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor legal legacy is one of the first casualties of the new Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick writes. After being hailed as the most powerful women in America, the former justice has seen her judgments "explicitly minimized" or "stepped distastefully... More »

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abortion • John Roberts • law • campaign finance • Sandra Day O'Connor • affirmative action • US Supreme Court

14 Die in Indian Race Riots

Minority group pushing for affirmative action clashes with police

May 30, 07 4:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - An ethnic minority in Northwest India clashed with police yesterday during a demonstration, leaving 14 people dead. The Army has been called into Rajasthan to restore order, after tens of thousands of Gujjars blocked a key highway and fought with police trying to break up their protest. More »

MORE ABOUT:
India • Gujjars • protests • affirmative action • Rajasthan • nomad • race riot • riots

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