Justice Scalia says Affirmative Action is Wrong and tells University crowd to `get over' 2000 election
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who savaged the University of Michigan's minority enrollment program last year, defended those opinions during a U-M speech Tuesday. He was greeted by a few protesters and a few cheers -- but nowhere near the emotion that spiked on campus while U-M's affirmative action enrollment practices were on trial. While the protesters' rhetoric was toned down, so too was the acerbic language Scalia used in the historic case. He had called U-M's program mystical, a scheme and a sham. Scalia, 68, told an overflow crowd of 700 at Rackham Auditorium that such programs simply don't work. "You assume it will help," he told the first questioner during a question-and-answer segment. "It makes you feel good, that's for sure." He was in the minority in the admissions case; in which the majority of his colleagues on the court ruled that the educational benefits of diversity made it permissible for the school to consider race in evaluating applicants. His comments weren't recorded because, according to U-M spokeswoman Julie Peterson, Scalia banned TV cameras and tape recorders from his appearance -- even though it was held at a taxpayer-supported public university.When he was asked by a member of the audience whether, if he had the chance, he would revisit his decision in the Gore-Bush 2000 election. Scalia cut off the questioner , saying, "I'm inclined to say it's been four years and an election. Get over it." That drew loud boos from the crowd. Scalia voted with the 5-4 majority in 2000 to cease the recount of disputed votes in Florida. [more] and [more]