The first case was called. It dealt with affirmative action in public universities — or, rather, what was left of the concept. Frank Campbell, the counsel arguing on behalf of affirmative action, barely got through his first sentence before Ramsey pounced.
The chief justice pointed out that the Fourteenth Amendment unequivocally stated that no one shall be discriminated against. Didn’t that mean affirmative action of any sort was impermissible under the Constitution?
“But there are broad wrongs that are trying to be — ”
“Why does diversity equate with equality?” Ramsey abruptly asked Campbell.
“It ensures that a broad and diverse body of students will be available to express different ideas, represent different cultures, which in turn will serve to break down the ignorance of stereotypes.”
“Aren’t you premising your entire argument on the fact that blacks and whites think differently? That a black raised by parents who are college professors in a well-to-do household in, say, San Francisco will bring a different set of values and ideas to a university than a white person who was raised in the exact same affluent environment in San Francisco?” Ramsey’s tone was filled with skepticism.
“I think that everyone has differences,” Campbell responded.
“Instead of basing it on skin color, doesn’t it seem that the most impoverished among us have a greater right to a helping hand?” Justice Knight asked. Ramsey looked over at her curiously as she said this. “And yet your argument draws no distinction on wealth or lack thereof, does it?” Knight added.
“No,” Campbell conceded.
Michael Fiske and Sara Evans sat in a special section of seats perpendicular to the bench. Michael glanced over at Sara as he listened to this line of questioning. She didn’t look at him.
“You can’t get around the letter of the law, can you? You would have us turn the Constitution on its head,” Ramsey persisted after finally taking his eyes off Knight.
“How about the spirit behind those words?” Campbell rejoined.
“Spirits are such amorphous things, I much prefer to deal in concrete.” Ramsey’s words brought scattered laughter from the audience. The chief justice renewed his verbal attack, and with deadly precision he skewered Campbell’s precedents and line of reasoning. Knight said nothing more, staring straight ahead, her thoughts obviously far from the courtroom. As the red light on the counsel lectern came on indicating Campbell’s time was up, he almost ran to his seat. As the counsel opposing affirmative action took his place at the lectern and began his argument, it didn’t seem like the justices were even listening anymore.
* * *
“Boy, Ramsey is efficient,” Sara remarked. She and Michael were in the Court’s cafeteria, the justices having retired to their dining room for their traditional post-oral argument luncheon. “He sliced up the university’s lawyer in about five seconds.”
Michael swallowed a bite of sandwich. “He’s been on the lookout for a case for the last three years to really blow affirmative action out of the water. Well, he found it. They should have settled the case before it got here.”
“You really think Ramsey will go that far?”
“Are you kidding? Wait until you see the opinion. He’ll probably write it himself, just so he can gloat. It’s dead.”
“I can partly see his logic,” Sara said.
“Of course you can. It’s evident. A conservative group brought the case, handpicked the plaintiff. White, bright, blue-collar, hardworking, never given a handout. And, even better, a woman.”
“The Constitution does say no one shall discriminate.”
“Sara, you know that the Fourteenth Amendment was passed right after the Civil War to ensure that blacks wouldn’t be discriminated against. Now it’s been forged into a bat to crush the people it was supposed to help. Well, the crushers just guaranteed their own Armageddon.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that poor with hope starts to push back. Poor without hope lashes back. Not pretty.”
“Oh.” She looked at Michael, his manner so intense, so mercurial. Serious beyond his years. He climbed on the soapbox with regularity, sometimes to an embarrassing degree. It was one of the elements about him that she both admired and feared.
“My brother could tell you some stories about that,” Michael added.