Indeed, preferences for Hispanics are about half that for blacks. As noted in the Rehnquist dissent in the University of Michigan cases a few years ago, many Hispanics get the same kind of treatment whites and Asians are routinely subjected to, namely rejection in favor of of less qualified applicants. Here is what Rehnquist had to say on the subject:
Specifically, the Law School states that ‘[s]ixty-nine minority applicants were rejected between 1995 and 2000 with at least a 3.5 [Grade Point Average (GPA)] and a [score of] 159 or higher on the [Law School Admissions Test (LSAT)]‘ while a number of Caucasian and Asian-American applicants with similar or lower scores were admitted. Brief for Respondents Bollinger et al. 10.
Review of the record reveals only 67 such individuals. Of these 67 individuals, 56 were Hispanic, while only 6 were African-American, and only 5 were Native American. This discrepancy reflects a consistent practice. For example, in 2000, 12 Hispanics who scored between a 159-160 on the LSAT and earned a GPA of 3.00 or higher applied for admission and only 2 were admitted. App. 200-201. Meanwhile, 12 African-Americans in the same range of qualifications applied for admission and all 12 were admitted. Id., at 198. Likewise, that same year, 16 Hispanics who scored between a 151-153 on the LSAT and earned a 3.00 or higher applied for admission and only 1 of those applicants was admitted. Id., at 200-201. Twenty-three similarly qualified African-Americans applied for admission and 14 were admitted. Id., at 198.
As for my being overheated, perhaps Carol Iannone is right. It comes from dealing with literally hundreds of e-mails from people telling me, often in language that can’t be repeated here, to go back to Mexico and accusing me of being a traitor to the United States. In 30-plus years of being involved in public-policy issues, I have never seen an issue as nasty as this one.