the very logic of having a test in the first place. As Congressman Hyde remarked, “If they want to abandon testing, that’s one thing. But if you are going to use the test, don’t cook the books.”
Hyde’s amendment has ignited a certain distemper among the Democrats, precisely because there is nothing plausible they can say to resist it. Hence, Representative Craig Washington of Texas has complained of Hyde: “I don’t think he has a bit of interest in the issue of testing. I think he is interested in torpedoing the Civil Rights Bill.” But the amendment would have the effect of “torpedoing” the Civil Rights Bill only because the practice of “race-norming” draws out, explicitly and faithfully, the logic contained in all measures of affirmative action. What is the difference, after all, between “race-norming” and the scheme that is followed at the “best” colleges and law schools, of arranging minority applicants in different pools, and admitting them with standards far less demanding than the standards applied to whites?
Comments