Meet the man trying to end affirmative action
Getting even one case before the United States Supreme Court is challenging. You need sound arguments, good plaintiffs, significant resources – and at least four justices willing to hear the case.
Getting eight cases before the high court is another level of potency, especially for someone who, like Edward Blum, isn’t a trained lawyer.
Raised in a “very liberal” home in Houston, the Republican candidate-turned-stockbroker-turned-conservative policy activist has spent the past two decades quietly reshaping American civil rights law. Shelby County v. Holder, the 2013 decision voiding a key section of the Voting Rights Act? That was him.
But his more recent efforts have focused on eliminating race-based affirmative action in college admissions. In 2016, the court ruled against him, upholding decades of precedent saying that universities have a compelling interest in attaining diverse student bodies. This term, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) – an organization he founded – has two new cases before the justices. Argued last Halloween, the cases – Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard – challenge affirmative action programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
With the cases still pending, Mr. Blum would not discuss them specifically. He did speak with the Monitor about his career, and
