MINDING THE CAMPUS:  “The Evolution of Christmas.”

MERRY, MERRY:  “Keeper of Christmas.”

COMING SOON!  THE NATION’S 250th ANNIVERSARY!:  Shouldn’t we be getting ready?  The National Association of Scholars promises to prepares us by writing history blurbs about the lead-up to the Declaration of Independence.

My recollection is that there was plenty of planning and pre-game activities in the years leading up to the Bicentennial in 1976.

GRABIEN’S TEN MOST MORTIFYING MEDIA MOMENTS OF 2023:  Via Powerline.

MORE ON THE ARGENTINE EARTHQUAKE:  On Minding the Campus.

WISDOM FROM THE MOUTHS OF POP CELEBRITIES:  Powerline’s John Hinderaker has declared Taylor Swift his “Woman of the Year.”  I can’t name a single song by Ms. Swift, but I agree with him that the following paragraph from a profile in the Wall Street Journal is a gem:

“I’m a big advocate for not hiding your enthusiasm for things,” she said last year in her New York University commencement address.  “Never be ashamed of trying.  Effortlessness is a myth.  The people who wanted it the least were the ones I wanted to date and be friends with in high school.  The people who want it the most are the people I now hire to work for my company.”

Repeat it to your children:  Effortlessness is a myth.  Make sure they understand it while they are still young.

I NEED YOUR HELP TO DEAL WITH CALIFORNIA’S OUT-OF-CONTROL LEGISLATURE:  Have you ever wanted to give me a Christmas present?  One that won’t cost you a nickel?  Here’s how you can do it:  The California legislature is again trying to repeal Prop 209–the 1996 amendment to the state constitution that prohibits preferential treatment based on race, sex, or ethnicity in public education, public education and public contracting.  They tried this three years ago (Prop 16) and got spanked at the ballot box.  We defeated them overwhelmingly even though they outspent us more than 14 to 1.

This time they are being trickier.  Instead of a straight repeal, they are considering a referendum that would give the governor the power to grant “exceptions” to Prop 209.  The bill–Assembly Constitutional Amendment 7 or ACA7–passed the Assembly in the autumn and will be before the Senate when the legislature reconvenes in January.  I am hoping to convince the Senate that this is a bad idea.  I don’t want to have to spend the better part of a year on another campaign.

A quick, cheap way to begin getting the Senate’s attention is through X (Twitter).  I have put together photo parade of about 100 people holding “No on ACA7” signs.  Last night I posted (tweeted) 24 of the photos. All of them were tagged to the Senate, leadership. Consequently, every time someone “likes” one of my posts (tweets), leaders of the Senate will get a little notification.  Later today, tomorrow, and Friday, I will be posting more.

If readers with a Twitter account are so inclined, it would be great if you could go into my X/twitter page and “like” all the 24 photos I sent out last night.  It would equally great if you could re-post/re-tweet a bunch of them.  With any luck, the Senate leaders who are tagged won’t be able to ignore the number of notifications they get.

The Calif constitution’s ban on preferential treatment based on race, sex, or ethnicity was put there in 1996 by Prop 209. Now state legislators want to create an unlimited number of “exceptions.” They will swallow the rule. #NoACA7 #KeepDiscriminationIllegal pic.twitter.com/sZVoh6PXVo

— Gail Heriot (@GailHeriot) December 19, 2023

If you’re wondering if I feel like Sisyphus working to get Prop 209 passed, defending it in courts, fighting Prop 16, and now this, the answer is yes.

Thank you to anyone who is in position to help. (Bumped)

DISPARATE IMPACT LIABILITY’S BEGINNINGS:  On this day in 1970, the parties argued Griggs v. Duke Power Co. before the Supreme Court.  Was there ever a more messed up, incoherent, anti-Congressional intent legal doctrine to come forth from the Supreme Court?  I doubt it.  Notably, the author of the Court’s opinion was the Court’s light-weight Chief, Warren Burger.

RIP SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR:  At the time of her decision in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), she was convinced that there was a “broad societal consensus” in favor of race-preferential admissions and was unwilling to go against that supposed consensus. In reality, insofar as there was a consensus, it went the other way.

RIP SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR:  I do wish you’d understood just how much damage you were doing to higher education and to the aspirations of minority students when you decided Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003.

IF YOU LIVE IN ARIZONA:  I suspect some of your tax money will soon be going to the University of Arizona’s “Emancipatory Education” graduate minor at the College of Education.  It sounds ghastly.  Maybe you should complain.

DO YOU HAVE A STORY TO TELL?:  The Center for Equal Opportunity is listening.  Two weeks ago CEO launched the “After Affirmative Action Network.”  The AAA Network is intended to serve as a clearinghouse to gather and distribute information on how colleges, universities and other schools are changing their admissions policies to comply (or not comply) with the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

Don’t be shy.  If you have information, send it to my friends Devon Westhill and Linda Chavez.  They will make sure it gets into the hands of journalists and litigators.

IF YOU’RE FROM CHICAGO, YOU’LL UNDERSTAND:  I’ve been down on Macy’s since they took over Marshall Field’s more than a decade ago.  I won’t shop there.  You can’t make me.  No one can.  Macy’s killed my favorite store.

I was therefore pleased to learn that “Stephen Miller’s Legal Group Targets Macy’s [Illegal] Diversity Policies.”  Go get ’em, Stephen.

SIGH:  More unsupported claims that racial disparities in maternal mortality are due to discrimination.  We’ll never solve the problem this way.

HOT! HOT! HOT!:  The Supreme Court will soon have the opportunity to resolve a conflict in the Circuits about whether Title IX requires school to assign transgender students to the showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms reserved for the sex they psychologically identify with (rather than their biological sex).  Here is the amicus curiae brief that Joe Bingham, Pete Kirsanow, Dan Morenoff and I just filed.  This is a very winnable case (even in the face of Bostock).  Here’s hoping the Court takes the case.

YOU CAN’T “PRETEND” AWAY SEVERE DISABILITY:  Amy S.F. Lutz is talking sense over at WaPo:  It is asinine to pretend that a severely autistic adult could waltz into a job that pays minimum wage or better if only the special Section 14c program, which allows them to be hired for less, were eliminated.  They will be unemployable.

This program doesn’t “take advantage” of severely disabled individuals for profit.  Overwhelming the 14c certificates an employer needs to participate in the program are held by non-profit community rehabilitation organizations.  They are just trying to give severely disabled individuals a little dignity (and their parents a little break.) The 14c program is overwhelmingly supported by the parents of the severely disabled.

I dissented from the report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that Lutz rightly criticizes.  If you haven’t done so already, please take a look at that dissent.  Send it or the Lutz article to your favorite state legislator.   I don’t think I get frustrated all that easily.  But when red state legislators don’t get this and prohibit the program in their state (as some have done), I start wanting to bang my head against the wall … which could eventually make me unemployable.

IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE IN OR NEAR WHAT J. EDGAR HOOVER CALLED THE “SOG” ON FRIDAY:  I’ll be speaking on a panel at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers’ Convention.  The title for the panel is “SFFA and Beyond.”  I’ll be trying to predict what will happen next, now that the Supreme Court has held race-preferential admissions unconstitutional.  I’m hoping the future will resemble this.

If you’re wondering, Hoover used the term “SOG” to mean Seat of Government–Washington, DC.  The Federalist Society’s National Lawyers’ Convention is held at the Mayflower Hotel there.  The Mayflower’s restaurant was J. Edgar Hoover’s favorite place for lunch.  He was there on a daily basis.  Alas, that exact restaurant no longer exists.  But in honor of Hoover’s patronage, the new restaurant at the Mayflower (which is in a slightly different spot) is called “Edgar.”  It’s probably not the memorial Hoover was expecting, but it’s more than most of us get.

IF YOU’RE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA:  Jeff Jacoby, longtime columnist for the Boston Globe, will be coming to the University  of San Diego School of Law to deliver our annual Bowes Lecture.  He’ll be here on Tuesday, November 14, at the School of Law’s Grace Courtroom.  The reception is at 5:30 pm, and the lecture begins at 6:15.  If you’re a Jeff Jacoby fan and you’re in Southern California, then please join me there.  It’s the cool place to be.

RSVPs are not required, but appreciated.

ANOTHER FAKE INDIAN:  Oh, no!  My tender years were all a lie!  I just learned Buffy Sainte-Marie isn’t really an Indian.

(I’m sorry. I can’t help thinking of this non-Buffy Sainte-Marie song.)

RACIAL DISPARITIES IN CRIME VICTIMIZATION:  On November 17th, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will be holding a briefing on crime victimization.  (You’d be shocked at how difficult it was to get the full Commission to agree to hold this briefing, but that another story.) Witnesses who will be testifying include John Lott, Rafael Mangual, and John Paul Wright.

If you would like to submit a comment on this subject, you can do so at .

ARE DOCTORS AND NURSES RACIST?:  Racial disparities in maternal mortality are a favorite topic for leftist activists these days.  And they continue to believe it is mainly a matter of racist doctors and nurses.  (Of course, this doesn’t explain why white mothers have higher rates of mortality than Hispanic mothers, but whatever …)

In keeping with the narrative, California law requires maternity care staff to complete “racism in medicine” training.  Evidently, most hospitals are out of compliance, and the California Attorney General is upset about it.  But, as I’ve written before, racist healthcare providers are unlikely to be the cause of the racial disparities in maternal mortality.  Differences in rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and multiple births are the more likely culprits. California would do better with mandatory training on how to recognize and deal with high-risk pregnancies.

Meanwhile, the article says Centinela Hospital in Inglewood (a heavily minority suburb of Los Angeles) plans to close its maternity ward permanently.  The hospital is being accused of malpractice in connection with a maternal death.  I can’t tell whether the lawsuit has merit or not.  But the closure of a hospital maternity ward is a bigger cause for concern than the failure of healthcare workers to get their “racism in medicine” training.

FAKE NEWS:  Before the Commission on Civil Rights releases a report, we try to agree on findings and recommendations.  It’s hard.  But for our report on Anti-Asian Racism, the Commission was able to muster a majority in favor of a limited number of recommendations.  That’s progress–at least for those who like to see a little bipartisanship now and then.  Unfortunately, it hasn’t done us a bit of good.  The Commission’s staff recently issued an “infographic” on the report that lists “Key Recommendations for Action.” But with one exception, they’re not the recommendations the Commission actually agreed to.  We figured in that it was a mistake of some sort.  But no.  When four Commissioner informed the Staff Director of the problem, we expected he’d fix it quickly.  But he has declined to do so.

The bureaucracy is out of control.

ALL GOD’S CREATURE HAVE GOT A PLACE IN THE CHOIR:  Constable gives snake the kiss of life.

EMPLOYERS ARE INCREASINGLY SKEPTICAL OF COLLEGE CREDENTIALS:  A thoughtful correspondent (himself an employer) sent me this.

WE ARE SO DOOMED:  “California Students Can No Longer Be Suspended for ‘Willful Defiance’:  Could Nationwide Change Be Next?”  This evidently is a response to the fact that African American and disabled students are suspended for willful defiance more often than whites, Asians, or non-disabled students.  Otherwise, suspensions would be fine with the California legislature.

This issue came before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights a few years ago.  Somehow our chairwoman at the time got it into her head that all races misbehave at the same rate and that the only reason African American students get punished more is that teachers are racist.  The other aspect of that report that was surreal was the notion that we should be upset that disabled students get disciplined more than nondisabled students.  For Pete’s sake, we DEFINE students who misbehave a lot as “disabled.”  Then we act surprised that students who misbehave a lot continue to misbehave a lot.  Yes, of course, I dissented.