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What Are Race Preference Defenders Afraid Of?

Facts, apparently. As Peter Schmidt reports today in the Chronicle of Higher Education, California trial judge in San Francisco has denied UCLA law prof Richard Sander and his colleagues access to California Bar Association data about bar passage rates, etc.

You would think that those ideologues and scholars (and ideological scholars) who have argued that Sander?s argument that affirmative action reduces the number of black lawyers (by admitting them to schools where they do poorly and either drop out or fail the bar in high numbers) would welcome the release of a large pool of relevant data to test his thesis. Or you would think that if you thought these scholars were disinterested or even interested seekers after truth. Many of us who have read their criticism of Sander, however, no longer think that.

The judge?s narrow ruling had nothing to do with affirmative action.

The judge held that the researchers' argument for access to the data under public-records laws relied on a definition of "public document" that was overly broad, and could be interpreted as covering judges' rough notes, grand-jury transcripts, and other documents that the courts have long held to be exempt.

Sander is ?not at all disheartened? by this opinion, predicting that the appellate ourt ?will not give it great weight.?

Regardless of the legal argument over access, the obvious political point is that defenders of racial preference live in fear that the fruits of their labor will some day be made public.

Full post as published by Discriminations on March 31, 2010 (boomark / email).