July 2, 2024 5:06 pm

Jonathan Chait’s Identity-Politics Flip-Flop

Is it good to make employment decisions based on race, or isn’t it? The columnist can’t seem to decide.

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Left: Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer during a press conference in Romulus, Mich., February 13, 2023. Right: Vice President Kamala Harris in Stansstad near Lucerne, Switzerland, June 15, 2024.

Rebecca Cook, Denis Balibouse/Reuters

Only two years ago, Jonathan Chait proposed that race-based hiring decisions — which categorically exclude certain individuals from consideration based on immutable characteristics — were essential for the very realization of the American promise. As he wrote then:

He continued: