Richard Sander on SCOTUS Oral Arguments: Affirmative Action and Discrimination against Asian Americans at Harvard and UNC (Manifold #23)

 

Richard Sander is Jesse Dukeminier Professor at UCLA Law School. AB Harvard, JD, PhD (Economics) Northwestern. 

Sander has studied the structure and effects of law school admissions policies. He coined the term "Mismatch" to describe the negative consequences resulting from large admissions preferences. 

Rick and Steve discuss recent oral arguments at the Supreme Court in Students for Fair Admissions vs Harvard College and Students For Fair Admissions vs the University of North Carolina. 

0:00 Rick’s experience at the Supreme Court 

4:11 Rick’s impression of the oral arguments 

16:24 Analyzing the court’s questions 

29:09 The negative impact on Asian American students 

34:41 Shifting sentiment on affirmative action 

40:04 Three potential outcomes for Harvard and UNC cases 

44:00 Possible reasons for conservatives to be optimistic 

50:31 Final thoughts on experiencing oral arguments in person 

52:12 Mismatch theory 

56:31 The future of higher education 

Resources 

Background on the Harvard case: 

https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2022/01/supreme-court-to-take-up-harvard-unc.html 

Transcripts: 

https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2022/20-1199_6537.pdf https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2022/21-707_m64n.pdf

Previous interview with Richard (Manifold #6)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pda6efrHgc

See the Crimson for some photos of the parties involved

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/11/1/scotus-hearing-recap/