It seems obvious why there are high standards for jobs like police and firefighters, or for scientists, or for concert musicians—or, for that matter, most any job: to produce excellence. But a legal doctrine known as "disparate impact" holds that if racial minorities disproportionately fail to meet those standards, the law presumes these standards are not meant for merit, but for racism.
Heather Mac Donald's new book is When Race Trumps Merit: How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty, and Threatens Lives. Mac Donald, the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal, argues that racially neutral standards that produce racially disparate results point to large academic skills gaps. These skills gaps are harming meritocratic organizations and creating large differences in criminal offending. By vilifying standards, the gaps only grow and people suffer. When the finger points at the moon, the idiot looks at the finger.
Join us for lunch with Heather Mac Donald:
When: Wednesday, August 9, 11:45 a.m. (registration), 12:00 p.m. (lunch)
Where: First Floor Conference Room, 2040 Main Street, 1st Floor, Irvine, CA. Please get your parking ticket validated in the lobby before or after entering the venue.
Cost: $30/members, $35/non-members, $10/students, for lunch and 1 hour of MCLE credit (the Federalist Society is a California State Bar approved provider of MCLE).
RSVP and Pay: To RSVP and pay by credit card, please register at the Federalist Society site here.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 5–4 decision in support of "disparate impact" theory in the Fair Housing Act case of Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. Justice Kennedy, writing for the 5-4 majority, wrote that suits "targeting unlawful zoning laws and other housing restrictions that unfairly exclude minorities from certain neighborhoods without sufficient justification are at the heartland of disparate-impact liability...Recognition of disparate impact liability under the FHA plays an important role in uncovering discriminatory intent: it permits plaintiffs to counteract unconscious prejudices and disguised animus that escape easy classification as disparate treatment."
Mac Donald is a New York Times bestselling author. She is a recipient of the 2005 Bradley Prize. Mac Donald’s work at City Journal has covered a range of topics, including higher education, immigration, policing, homelessness and homeless advocacy, criminal-justice reform, and race relations. Her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and The New Criterion. Mac Donald’s newest book is When Race Trumps Merit.
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