Erwin Chemerinsky’s talk about direct democracy and Prop 2 (with the Orwellian name “Civil Rights Initiative”) has been published in our own Michigan State Law Review. The talk is called “Challenging Direct Democracy.”
Here’s the introduction:
The Civil Rights Initiative in Michigan was adopted the day before this symposium on direct democracy was held at Michigan State University College of Law.
Let there be no doubt of its effects: it’s going to be a devastating event for individuals of color throughout Michigan. I can back this up by the experience of California, after a similar initiative, also championed by Ward Connerly, was passed there in 1996. Statistics are available about the effect on admissions at the University of California Law Schools in the five years immediately after the passage of what was called their Proposition 209. The percentage of minority students at state law schools, like UCLA and Boalt, is a fraction of what it was at comparable private schools like Stanford and U.S.C. The same effects have been seen in government contracting and employment.
Turtle Talk 