Jennifer Gratz, CEO and founder of XIV Foundation, on Sunday blasted Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor for opposing a recent supreme court ruling which gave states the right to ban Affirmative Action.
In a 6-2 decision on Tuesday, the Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved initiative banning affirmative action in Michigan, and essentially making similar bans safe in seven other states.
But Justice Sotomayor noted in her 58-page dissent that minority enrollment had decreased at Michigan’s public universities under the ban.
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, Gratz blasted Sotomayor for pointing out that racial minorities were now the only type of minorities that could lobby the university for enrollment.
She argued that the ruling was fair because whites could also not expect to be admitted based on their race.
"I think that Justice Sotomayor's dissent was unfortunate," Gratz opined. "I think that good people can disagree on this issue. I do think she took it -- the discourse -- to a level that was beyond what we've seen."
"And I think that he behavior, quite frankly, was unbecoming of a Supreme Court justice."
Civil rights attorney Shanta Driver, however, argued that Affirmative Action was still necessary because minorities continued to face discrimination in higher education and other areas.
"This is a racist decision that takes us back to and era of states rights, where white majorities can disenfranchise minorities communities," she explained. "And now, prevent us from getting higher education. This decision cannot stand."
Gratz was shocked that someone would describe an Affirmative Action ban as "racist."
"I think it is unbelievable that someone would sit her and say prohibiting racial discrimination is a racist decision," she insisted. "I think that tells us where the level of discourse is today."
"Good people can disagree, but we can't have name calling and baiting like this," the anti-Affirmative Action crusader added.
"The old Jim Crow is now the new Jim Crow," Driver shot back. "And it does have a name."
