Cornerite Roger Clegg is too modest to tell you this himself, but he just received a big job promotion: He’s now president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, the think tank Linda Chavez founded more than a decade ago to fight racial preferences and bilingual education. Chavez will remain heavily involved with CEO, but now exclusively as its chairman. (N.B. I worked for Chavez and with Clegg at CEO before joining NR, and I’m currently a CEO board member.)

Clegg has big plans for 2006: CEO will be active in the debate over the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which promises to be one of the year’s most talked-about political melees. Also, CEO will provide a much-needed voice of reason as Congress moves to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act–and probably tries to drive it even further away from its original colorblind principles. Finally, expect to see Clegg and CEO play a part in the Alito confirmation hearings; Chavez was crucial in batting down the “comparable worth” allegations hurled at John Roberts last year, and Clegg also weighed in frequently on behalf of his old DOJ colleague.

Anyway, congratulations Roger!