★★★★★ 1
A Disconnected and Legally Shaky Defense of Racial Preferences
Format: Paperback
While this book raises some thought-provoking points, it ultimately reads like a product of self-righteous elites disconnected from reality and from the American public.
1. Ignores public opinion.
The author never acknowledges that polls consistently show Americans oppose racial preferences in college admissions. Proposition 16—which would have allowed such preferences—was defeated by a wide margin in 2020 in California, one of the nation’s most liberal states. A Brookings poll found that virtually all racial groups, including Black respondents, supported the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) decision.
2. Starts with a strange premise.
The first chapter claims conservatives will “regret” the SFFA ruling because universities will continue racial preferences covertly. But that sidesteps the real question: why shouldn’t colleges comply with the ruling’s letter and spirit?
3. Offers dubious legal advice.
In Chapter Three, the author—himself a law professor—floats risky ideas for “working around” the Supreme Court’s decision. Many of these suggestions rest on shaky legal ground, as anyone familiar with the Second Circuit’s CACAGNY v. Adams, 116 F.4th 161 (2d Cir. 2024), would recognize.
4. Ignores proportionality and real-world outcomes.
The book argues for “diversity” preferences without asking how much preference is justified. In reality, Asian American applicants face steep penalties. e.g. Stanley Zhong was rejected by five University of California campuses’ Computer Science programs as an in-state applicant—shortly before Google hired him for a full-time, Ph.D.-level software engineering position. Meanwhile, UC San Diego’s own freshman math-placement data show a surge of students—mostly “underrepresented minorities” favored by UC—placed into remedial courses, some testing at a 4th-grade level. It is hard to see how admitting these students is helping them other than allowing some elites to make themselves feel good or get a promotion.
If this book represents what passes for legal scholarship at Yale, the state of American legal education should worry us all.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2025
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