American White Nationalism In Judicature

Affirmative action in the United States refers to a set of provisional laws and policies since the early 1960 s in requirement of racial preferences for ethnic groups(esp.African-Americans)and other disadvantaged groups.It is mainly applied in areas of higher education,employment and government contracting in order to protect the fruits of the Civil Rights movement,the Civil Rights Act,and truly eliminating the existing “de facto” racial inequality.Because of the ambiguous nature of affirmative action,that is treating certain groups of people unequally in the name of equality,the controversy over affirmative action has never died away since its birth.Regents of the University of California v.Bakke in 1978 affirmed the implementation of affirmative action in higher education and similar affirmative action admissions policies ever since have been advised in American colleges and universities binding Bakke as a precedent.According to the academics,the American white nationalist movement has begun to resurge since the 1990 s,for which Affirmative action has been “the perfect grievance” to “woo” mainstream whites to become the common knowledge and the social ideology.In the judicial system,the justices,known as the “embodiment of justice,” will be without exception subject to the prevailing common knowledge and social ideology in the handling of the cases.In the light of this,this paper is aimed at analyzing four typical lawsuits involving affirmative action admissions policies in higher education since the 1990 s to explore the resurgence of American white nationalist thought in the application of research methods of case study,literature research and comparative analysis.Through the analysis,it is found that the courts and the parties involved have been showing increasingly intense ideological tendencies of conservatism,anti-multiculturalism,anti-multiracialism,white victimhood and racism in the course of trial cases.Hence,this paper argues that American white nationalism has resurged in judicature.The paper is made up of introduction,three chapters and a conclusion.Introduction gives a brief illustration of the academic background of the paper,including the background of American white nationalism and its basic characteristics,the background of affirmative action and its ambiguous nature,and the dilemma of the implementation of affirmative action in American higher education under the impact of American white nationalism.Besides,the literature review and research significance are presented as well.Chapter One reviews Hopwood v.State of Texas(1996).Conservative ideology is fully manifested in analysis of the insistent appeal of the initiator of the lawsuit,the splits between the district court and the Fifth Circuit,and the conservative remarks of the case expressed by the government.The sense of white victimhood is evidently disclosed in the Fifth Circuit's interpretation of Wellborn's testimony.The aura of anti-multiculturalism and anti-multiracialism in the courts are too obvious in the Fifth Circuit's blunt denial of the diversity rationale supported in Bakke.What lies behind the ten pages of opinions of the circuit court to refute the law school's claims is the hidden fear of the threat of the status of white-supremacy and white dominance.In all,the American white nationalist ideas permeated in the courts have a great impact on the litigation of the case.Chapter Two examines two similar lawsuits: Grutter v.Bollinger(2003)and Gratz v.Bollinger(2003).The comparative analysis of the two cases is applied,where Grutter is the focus.The motive of the initiator,justice O'Connor's swing vote and some justices' dissenting opinions all reveal the increasingly conservative attitude towards affirmative action.The haunting suspicion of the diversity rationale in the courts at all levels manifests the anti-multiculturalist and anti-multiracialist tendencies.New formulations suggested by some judges in the oral argument reveals the courts' deep fear of “reverse discrimination” against whites.Words in the justice's long dissenting opinion expose the racist attitude towards the African Americans.In the comparative analysis of Gratz and Grutter,it is apparent that the reversal of the Supreme Court's rulings in the two cases on the same day reflects the courts' ambiguous attitude towards affirmative action,but in fact,it has ended up setting more “limits” on the future implementation of affirmative action than that in Bakke.Since then,many universities and colleges chose to implement affirmative action in a more “furtive” way or even abolish it.The influence of American white nationalism on courts' handling of the relevant lawsuits is becoming greater and greater.Chapter Three studies Fisher v.University of Texas(2013,2016).The Supreme Court's grants of remand even twice despite of the agreement of the two lower courts in upholding the university's affirmative action admissions policy essentially evince the conservative attitude that the Supreme Court is not satisfied with the “limits” set on affirmative action in Grutter.The courts' anti-multiculturalist and anti-multiracialist attitudes are so self-evident in the extended questioning of the diversity rationale endorsed in previous cases.As to how to guarantee the means to achieve the university's diversity is narrowly tailored enough not to hurt white people,the general mood of white victimhood in the courts is clearly manifested in the dispute.Scalia's racist suggestions in his dissenting opinion that African American students might belong to “less rigorous schools” than the white students arouse a series of reactions.Facially,his rhetoric seems not in harmony with the public,but in fact,it represents the opinion of the “Silent Majority.” It can be seen that American white nationalist ideology has penetrated into the mainstream groups and courts,seriously affecting the trials of the litigation.Conclusion restates the argument of this paper that American white nationalism has resurged in judicature.