On Friday of last week, the Southeastern Legal Foundation filed a brief amicus curiae with the United States Supreme Court, requesting that the court grant certiorari in the case of Shea v. Curry. NAS was invited to sign on in support of the petition, along with the Cato Institute and the Center for Equal Opportunity, both of which we’ve joined previously in this capacity. The case arose from a challenge by petitioner William Shea to a State Department affirmative action program which effectively allowed only racial minority group members to apply directly for mid-level foreign service positions. Background information and the brief for the case is available at SLF’s web page here.
Although this case does not directly involve the kind of race-based hiring in academic institutions that we’ve opposed since our inception, it affords the best opportunity for the Supreme Court to address the general issue of race and employment since its 2009 ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano. At this point, of course, a final decision is still quite some distance down the road, and we won't know for some months if the SC will grant certiorari. But the implications of a ruling in Shea's favor would have a major impact on academic hiring procedures, and we are grateful for the opportunity to join with our other cosigners in support of SLF’s brief.
Image: Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain
