BOSTON, MA – OCTOBER 14: A scuffle between protesters ensues as a group of Chinese Americans who support President Trump raised a banner thanking the President at a rally in Boston’s Copley Square to support Students for Fair Admissions’ lawsuit against Harvard University and to protest Harvard’s alleged anti-Asian discrimination in admissions on Oct. 14, 2018. More than 100 Asian-Americans protested practices they said were unfair to their community, as lawyers for Harvard University and a group thats suing the institution prepared to litigate the controversial practice. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

CRCLF Editorial Board, May 17, 2019, New Rochelle, New York

Affirmative Action is a heated issue. As a result, it should come as no surprise that in the context of education, Affirmative Action is an issue that seems never to end. To date, Affirmative Action has endured multiple deaths. The plaintiff in this unending saga is usually the same, Edward Blum, president of Students for Fair Admissions. Many would contend that Mr. Blum appears to be on what seems to be a lifelong crusade to kill Affirmative Action. Mr. Blum’s mission against race as a means of consideration of any corrective action began in Bush v. Vera, a case in which Mr. Blum lost his bid for a Republican congressional seat because of majority-minority voting districts. From there Mr. Blum participated in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder, attacking the Voting Rights Act, which had been created as a result of southern states systemic denial of African American’s right to votes.

In 2013, Mr. Blum spearheaded Fisher v. University of Texas, in an attempt to strike down the University of Texas’ already anemic affirmative action policy. Nonetheless, Mr. Blum failed in his bid to kill Affirmative Action again in 2009, and again in 2016 where the U.S. Supreme Court took up the case for a second time. The plaintiffs in Mr. Blum’s class action cases in furtherance of his attempts to kill Affirmative Action, again and again, were white. Mr. Blum appeared to perceive that as a challenge for obtaining the desired relief. Therefore, upon embarking upon his latest challenge in the unending destruction of Affirmative Action, Mr. Blum enlisted a Chinese citizen, for purposes of contending that Affirmative Action is a policy of discrimination rather than a policy of inclusion.

Mr. Blum’s approach has divided the minority community, even among Asian citizens with many supporting and opposing the Chinese plaintiff’s class action attack on Affirmative Action. Having concluded the case of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. President and Fellows of Harvard College etc., in November 2018, the civil rights community, opponents and proponents alike are on edge, as they await Judge Allison D. Burroughs’ decision from the fifteen-day trial. Judge Burroughs’ decision is unlikely to resolve the Affirmative Action debt. However, in the era of Donald J. Trump, Judge Burroughs’ decision takes on much-added significance.