U.S. Supreme Court
The Conservative Clash
Posted Jun 28, 2007, 03:00 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Today’s Supreme Court ruling striking down race-conscious admissions decisions at two public schools highlights a divide in the court’s conservative wing.
The clash is between the court’s visionaries and minimalists, University of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein writes in a column for the Washington Post.
In his opinion for the court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was careful not to question court precedents allowing affirmative action in some circumstances.
It is a pattern he has followed throughout the term, joining with the court’s other new justice, Samuel A. Alito Jr., to issue narrow, cautious opinions. As such, they are minimalists, seeking to maintain continuity with precedent, Sunstein says.
This group is clashing with Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who would go further and overrule precedent, rebuilding constitutional law based on “logic and reason.” In the past, they have opposed affirmative action plans across-the-board. Sunstein calls these two justices visionaries.
The issue is if and when the minimalists will join the constitutional revolution, according to Sunstein.
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