Re: Puzzles re: Grutter and Korematsu - hispanics andsegregatedschools

[Mark Graber]

I am wondering the extent to which our debate is over administrative convenience.  Consider two examples.   1. X produces irrefutable evidence that one of X's parents was denied admission in Chipmunk U. (see "How to Succeed in Business") because of state mandated racial discrimination.  X also presents irrefutable evidence that his or her parent would have attended had they been offered admission and that X would have been offered admission had X been an alumni child.    2. Y presents irrefutable evidence that had her parents been aware of the better kindergarten programs in her schools district and been able to afford violin lessons, X would have developed the credentials that guarantee admission to Chipmunk U.   The problem with these hypotheticals, of course, is a) that these are matters on which irrefutable evidence never exists and b) that no school has the wherewithal to be that thorough in admissions.  You get 10,000 applications at a law school, you use lots of rules of thumb.    My sense is that most people on the list would think it constitutional if Michigan had an admissions staff of 500 people who did thorough bios on all persons that resulted in white persons getting about the percentage of places they now get.  The problem, of course, is that Michigan cannot afford to do this.  So, if race is not a cost-effective way of securing the goals noted above, what would be a reasonably cheap way of doing it?   Mark A. Graber