WATCH: Tom Cotton grills Biden's AG pick on alleged discrimination in college admissions
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) cross-examined President Biden’s nominee for Attorney General on his views about anti-Asian discrimination in higher education.
Campus Reform has reported extensively on skewed admissions results that disadvantage Asian-American students.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) grilled President Joe Biden’s nominee for Attorney General on his views about affirmative action.
During the confirmation hearing of Merrick Garland — former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and President Barack Obama’s nominee to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court — Cotton attempted to discern Garland’s views on anti-Asian discrimination in college admissions.
Schools like Yale use affirmative action to discriminate against Asian American applicants.
It’s unfortunate that the Biden Administration and Judge Garland won’t commit to opposing this racial discrimination. pic.twitter.com/RgTw6NnSzK— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) February 22, 2021
The lawmaker noted that under President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice sued Yale University for discriminating against students on the basis of their race.
“Do you think that evidence suggests discrimination based on race in Yale’s admissions process?” Cotton asked.
Garland was hesitant to provide a concrete answer.
“These cases do not only depend on disparate statistics but on all the factors the Supreme Court instructed the lower courts and the government as to what kinds of affirmative action in higher education are permissible and which ones aren’t,” he said. “So, I can’t, I honestly can’t draw any conclusions without knowing the facts of the case.”
“When Asian American kids are eight times less likely to be admitted in the same band of academic achievement, you don’t think that at least suggests a facial case of racial discrimination?” Cotton asked.
“Well, I think that’s the question that you look at for the underlying facts to know,” Garland replied.
Cotton then asked whether Garland’s Justice Department would “pursue cases of obvious racial discrimination and higher education.” Garland responded, “Well, if you put it that way, the answer is, of course, yes.”
“Well, I think this presents an obvious case of discrimination against Asian Americans,” Cotton remarked. “I suspect some Asian American parents and their kids are a little disappointed in those answers, Judge.”
[RELATED: Yale illegally discriminates against White, Asian American students, federal probe finds]
Campus Reform has reported extensively on the Department of Justice’s attempts to address alleged bias against Asian-American students applying to leading universities.
In particular, the Justice Department filed suit against Yale University for its skewed admissions statistics. A two-year investigation found that “race is the determinative factor in hundreds of admissions decisions each year” at Yale.
In the first days of his administration, Biden withdrew the lawsuit.
[RELATED: Biden Justice Department drops Yale discrimination lawsuit]
Campus Reform reached out to Cotton’s office for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft
