In 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing for a 5-4 majority, said that in 25 years the use of race in university admissions should no longer be necessary. After leaving the bench, she added that this wasn’t meant as an expiration date. She simply hoped that as equal educational opportunity became the norm that colleges would no longer need affirmative action to diversify their student bodies.

But yesterday the Supreme Court agreed to review the lower court’s decision in Fisher v. University of Texas—and now all bets may be off for the future of affirmative action in higher education.    Read more

Tonight, at 10 pm, check out the latest installment of marijuana in cable news, and watch the premiere of the new National Geographic series "American Weed," focusing on the battle surrounding medical marijuana in Colorado.  

Nat Geo offers the following description:

All-new series American Weed finds Colorado medical marijuana businesses under scrutiny and facing mounting pressures from local residents. Medical cannabis entrepreneur and Fort Collins dispensary owner Josh Stanley works aggressively to counter such pressure with radio ads and fundraisers. As the oldest of 11 kids, Josh relies heavily on several of his brothers to work at the grove and keep his business supplied in medical marijuana. Meanwhile, Sgt. Jim Gerhardt and fellow officers on the North Metro Task Force continue to find illegal grows by residents claiming to be growing medical marijuana. Is the pendulum swinging back to curb the 10-year proliferation of medical marijuana in Colorado?    Read more

 The Associated Press has been reporting on the NYPD's extensive, and likely illegal, surveillance of Muslim communities for the past year. The reports show that the NYPD was  collaborating with the CIA and chronicling the activities and businesses of Muslims under no suspicion of criminal activity, creating one of the largest domestic intelligence agencies the country. The NYPD's intrusion went so deep it stretched from people and students to businesses and mosques to Yale University. Yesterday, four AP reporters who broke the story received the George Polk Award for Metropolitan Reporting.     Read more

The "trans-vaginal" ultrasound provision which would have required an invasive procedure for women seeking abortion in Virginia may go the way of the dodo thanks to tremendous pressure from the pro-choice community.

This is only a defensive victory, as the patronizing external sonograms are still required in the state, and abortion rights in Virginia have still been dramatically curtailed in recent months. 

Still, the statement from Governor Bob McDonnell opposing the measure is fascinating in that it uses language that sounds fairly pro-choice to me. The key provision:    Read more

The Obama Administration has offered a plan for a corporate tax overhaul. This proposal aims to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 28%, which would seem to be a cozying up to corporations-- although the plan in theory also eliminates loopholes and is an attempt to target tax-avoidance gambits by those same corporations.

This may be largely seen as an election-year move, says the New York Times. It's an effort to offer a counter to whatever tax plan Mitt Romney has up his sleeve.

President Obama will ask Congress to scrub the corporate tax code of dozens of loopholes and subsidies to reduce the top rate to 28 percent, down from 35 percent, while giving preferences to manufacturers that would set their maximum effective rate at 25 percent, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.    Read more

   I just heard a new joke about Rick Santorum, and it goes like this:

A professor, a liberal, and a mainline protestant walk into a bar ... and Rick Santorum says "Hi Satan!"

The basis of the joke: Santorum's 2008 speech warning that Satan was attacking the United States of America—and had already established a foothold in the academic, political, and religious worlds.

That's not the kind of thing you typically (well, ever) hear from presidential candidates, and Mitt Romney's allies in the conservative media are hoping it convinces Republicans that Santorum is unelectable. Even Santorum-friendly Rush Limbaugh thinks Santorum has a problem. It will certainly be a topic during tonight's debate, and how Santorum addresses it will go a long way to determining the fate of his candidacy. Last night, he offered a preview:    Read more

Over the last week, an important approach to economics that has spent years on the sidelines went mainstream: Modern Monetary Theory. This is good news for anyone who wants to see the neoliberal paradigm challenged, and a positive sign to heterodox economists who have difficulty getting a hearing in a field still gripped by outmoded models.

The theory, which provides unusual perspectives on issues including currency, debt, and government spending, kicked off in the mid-90s and has since grown into a movement. Its roster of proponents includes James K. Galbraith; Australian economist Bill Mitchel; Randall Wray and Stephanie Kelton of the University of Missouri-Kansas City; Rob Parenteau; Pavlina Tcherneva; Scott Fullwilier; Warren Mosler; and blogger Marshall Auerback. Their insights have been particularly valuable in countering the deficit hysteria which reached a fever pitch in the U.S. during the summer of 2011, and still darkens policy debates worldwide. (Visit the New Economic Perspectives blog for a primer on MMT).    Read more

A depiction of the procedure

A bill requiring women to undergo an invasive ultrasound before having an abortion has already sailed throughthe Virginia Senate, and was to be signed into law by Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) once it cleared the House. Under the proposed policy, most women seeking seeking an abortion will be forced to have a transvaginal procedure, in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced.”

But now McDonnell is backing away from his previous wholehearted support of the measure. Earlier, he told ABC News he supports “the concept that a woman should have all of the information possible before she makes a decision about terminating a pregnancy.” Now, his office has clarified that he will “review” the bill if it passes the General Assembly:    Read more

It seems appropriate that on the same day we share a video of a laid-back Preisdent Obama belting out a verse of old-timey blues music, we'd also show you the quickly-going-viral-footage of Mitt Romney's stiffest speech ever, in Michigan, featuring the immortal line: "It seems right here... the trees are the right height."

Insert your own jokes about robot wiring malfunctioning here, and watch below:

The Mittbot aso says "I love cars," but of course his vocal opposition to bailing out the Detroit auto industry And don't forget to check out the remix, featuring some moments from the comedy movie "Anchorman" which brought Steve Carrell into comedic prominence:    Read more

This week, the Virginia State Legislature – joining Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa – passed two of the country’s most restrictive abortion bills. One, a personhood anti-abortion bill and the other, mandating a coercive mandatory transvaginal probe for women seeking abortions. This week’s momentum of the “personhood” movement is not surprising in that it is closely tied to conservative Republican’s inability to target the economy as a problem in a campaign year.  A shift in focus on social issues is logical.    Read more