Encourage law schools to get rid of affirmative action policies.
[U.S. Commission on Civil Rights] Commissioner Gail Heriot, also a professor of law at the University of San Diego (USD), wrote in this fall’s edition of the school’s “The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues” about the commission’s investigations showing what she called “troubling evidence that race-based affirmative action policies may have harmed rather than helped minority students who aspire to become attorneys.”
Heriot based her essay largely, but far from exclusively, on a study by UCLA Law Professor Richard Sander. “If his findings are correct,” she wrote, “there are today approximately 7.9% fewer, not more, practicing attorneys as a result of race-based admissions policies.”
Sander’s research indicates that without affirmative action, fewer African-Americans would be admitted to law schools, but more would eventually pass the bar exam and become practicing attorneys.
At first glance, of course, these findings seem to make no sense. But the key lies in the concept of “academic mismatch.” Heriot explains: “Students who attend schools where their academic credentials are substantially below their fellow students’ tend to perform poorly.” They consistently receive worse grades, and they drop out at far higher rates.
For an excellent libertarian defense of affirmative action policies (not laws, but policies), see this article by Stephan Kinsella.
