Supreme Court Ruling Unlikely to End Affirmative Action

Article here. Excerpt:

'The other pillar of the court’s anti-affirmative argument – and it cropped up again in the New Haven case – is that qualified white males are getting kicked to the curb and are losing ground to unqualified blacks, minorities and women. That myth has been repeatedly debunked. According to census figures, if every unemployed black worker in the country were to displace a white worker, only a tiny fraction of whites would be affected. Furthermore, affirmative action pertains only to job-qualified applicants, so the actual percentage of affected whites would be minuscule. In New Haven, the number of firefighters allegedly affected was 20. The main sources of job loss among white workers have to do with factory relocations and labor contracting outside the United States, computerization and automation, and corporate downsizing.
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During the presidential campaign, affirmative action was not an issue. John McCain and Barack Obama made only the barest mention of it. And that came only in response to when Connerly plopped his anti-affirmative action measure on ballots in three states, one of which was McCain’s home state of Arizona. McCain backed the Connerly measure. He insisted that he backed equal opportunity and opposed discrimination. Obama opposed the initiatives. Connerly quickly pounced on Obama for it, noting that he cut radio ads in 2006 that hammered his Michigan anti-affirmative action initiative. Obama unabashedly said that if the measure passed it would hurt women and minorities in getting jobs and in education. Connerly tried to use Obama’s opposition to his initiative as a foil. But it did not diminish voter support for Obama.

The Supreme Court almost certainly will rule in favor of the white firefighters in New Haven. But it won’t end affirmative action. And that’s still fine with most Americans.'