I am working up to a longer post on how defenders of racial preference misuse the concept of original intent as it applies to benefits extended to former slaves during Reconstruction, but since I’m tired of waiting for Godot to finish that long post I thought I would suggest that, in order to prepare yourselves for it, you should take a look at this post on SCOTUSblog by David Gans and Adam Winkler and a reply by Roger Clegg.
Clegg, needless to say, has much the better of the argument. Whenever I see people — like Gans and Winkler here — trying in vain to learn the lessons of history, I’m always reminded of Mark Twain’s cat:
The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won’t sit upon a cold stove lid, either.
