Affirmative Action Made Law By 6th Circuit

Another group of "Progressive" judicial activists make law from the bench and toss out existing legislation.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today striking down a Michigan law passed via referendum which barred the used of racial preferences in college admissions:

This ruling afects my state and I am not thrilled with it. We have an "affirmative action" president and too many unqualified doofises in Washington and at the state level who gained their status by gaming the system. Do qualifications mean nothing in the 21st century?

A federal appeals court on Friday struck down Michigan’s ban on the consideration of race and gender in college admissions, saying it burdens minorities and violates the U.S. Constitution.
The 2-1 decision upends a sweeping law that forced the University of Michigan and other public schools to change admission policies. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law, approved by voters in 2006, violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
The court mostly was concerned about how the affirmative action ban was created. Because it was passed as an amendment to the state constitution, it can only be changed with another statewide vote. This places a big burden on minorities who object to it, judges R. Guy Cole Jr. and Martha Craig Daughtrey said.
The ban’s supporters could have chosen “less onerous avenues to effect political change,” the judges said in the court’s opinion.
Arizona, California, Nebraska and Washington state have similar bans, but they won’t be affected by the Michigan decision. The court ruling is limited to Michigan and other states in the 6th Circuit: Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.
The judges cited two U.S. Supreme Court cases, one involving the repeal of a fair housing law in Akron, Ohio, and the other a law intended to stop racial integration in Seattle schools.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which was part of a coalition that challenged the Michigan ban, hailed the court’s decision.
The “ruling has kept the door open for thousands of academically qualified students of color to continue to pursue the American dream through our state’s colleges and universities,” said Kary Moss, an ACLU spokeswoman in Detroit.
A dissenting judge, Julia Smith Gibbons, said there was nothing wrong with the ban or the way it passed.