Trump Goes Negative On Affirmative Action

Published: Oct. 19, 2020, 4 p.m.

Trump's Justice Department is fighting in court to end affirmative action in college admissions. So what's behind the argument that this policy meant to address racial bias is, in fact, racist?

On Today's Show:
Erwin Chemerinsky, professor and dean of Berkeley Law, and the author of several books, including We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century (Picador Macmillan, 2018) and Jami Floyd, senior editor for race & justice at WNYC, talk about affirmative action as an issue in the presidential race - where Joe Biden stands on it as the Trump administration sues Yale over its use of race in admissions. Plus, Chemerinsky weighs in on affirmative action in his state, California, where it is currently banned but is on the ballot for voters this year as Prop 16 asks whether it should be allowed again.