Justice Antonin Scalia delivered a lecture at the University of Michigan law school yesterday, and he did not discuss affirmative action. Or at least that was not the subject of his address, which was about originalism as an interpretive method, but the topic could not be altogether avoided.
Although Scalia is a vocal opponent of affirmative action and opposed the University in its admissions lawsuit last year, he did not address the issue during his speech. But during a question-and-answer session following the lecture, Scalia was asked how he could oppose race-conscious admissions and consider it acceptable for him to attend Harvard law school.
Too bad Sander’s study didn’t come out in, say, May 2003.