There won’t be a backlash against the Supreme Court

The recent rulings were a double hit to the left

The recent Supreme Court rulings were blows to liberals, both ideologically and tactically.

First, the court put an end to the practice of colleges and universities using race or ethnicity as a factor in admissions. In a nutshell, the decision signifies a return to merit-based admissions, and an end to the practice of “affirmative action,” which is a prettied up way to say “racial preferences for groups we like.” Which is also pretty darn close to just plain ol’ “racism.”

Another ruling held that President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan was unconstitutional, a decision hardly surprising, and the third major ruling was upholding the rights of a Colorado web designer to refuse to create websites that celebrate same-sex weddings, based on religious objections.

Apart from being conservative victories, the rulings won’t create any kind of a backlash like we saw with last year’s Roe v. Wade decision. The left has been ramping up its attacks on the Supreme Court, and that campaign just lost some steam. 

Biden continued the “illegitimate” theme, declaring the Supreme Court “is not a normal court,” and other elected Dems want to rearrange it so, as Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) says, “People don’t have to live under constant fear of the Supreme Court.”

Yet these rulings are different. The college admissions action, in particular, is highly popular among Americans, because we generally dislike racial discrimination. While Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson bemoaned it to be a “let-them-eat–cake obliviousness,” most Americans, even most black Americans, disagree.

Here’s a recent Pew poll showing the breakdown of those who believe race or ethnicity should be a factor in college admissions. 

We even saw California voters reject a return to “affirmative action” following George Floyd’s death in 2020. Proponents — from the state legislature to Gov. Gavin Newsom — argued that colorblind policies hurt minorities, but only 42% of voters agreed.

They’ll undoubtedly keep up their campaign against the court, but will certainly have a harder time arguing that its rulings are ruinous.

— Ken

Double Rainbow: Brown’s gay numbers surge

A recent survey conducted by The Brown Daily Herald shows a leap in the number of LGBT students at the Ivy League school over the past decade. From 14% in 2010, the figures have more than doubled to 38%, over five times higher than the national average for adults identifying as non-straight. Heterosexual student numbers have notably declined as the number of students claiming to be bisexual has skyrocketed. 

Are students genuinely expressing their sexual orientation or is this a new trend as LGBT status increases?

Beauty queen's crowning glory

The Miss Netherlands pageant took a turn when a 22-year-old transgender clinched the crown. So now we have a young man, who identifies as a woman, in contention to be Miss Universe. I’ve never put too much stock into these whole “Miss” contests, but it’s interesting to note that this has happened before. The NY Post reports that as then-owner of the competition, Donald Trump allowed a transgender from Canada to compete in 2012.