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Bush and Affirmative Action
Aired January 15, 2003 - 13:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now first this hour, the White House and affirmative action. After the Trent Lott debacle, there was talk of reaching out to minorities on the part of the GOP, but not this time.
At issue, a constitutional test involving access to higher education.
CNN's Dana Bash is standing by at the White House to tell us what's at stake -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, a lot of court watchers say that this is probably one of the most important cases on affirmative action that the Supreme Court will see in a generation, so the White House is considering whether or not they want to weigh in. And sources are telling us that the president will probably endorse a brief to oppose the kind of quotas that are going on at the University of Michigan. That's the case the Supreme Court will hear. That brief is due tomorrow.
The president met last night with advisers, talking about what he intends to do and what kind of statement he intends to make. He's also meeting with them today. And the key here is, in addition to saying that the White House opposes what's going on at Michigan, opposes quotas, what else do they want to say? What kind of statement does the president want to make?
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that the president wants to make sure that people know that he believes diversity is an important goal, and that it's a challenge, he said, to make sure that you have diversity without having quotas. He said that is a very hard challenge to reach, both politically and constitutionally.
But Ari Fleischer reminded reporters that the president did support back when he was governor what he calls affirmative access, which is giving the top 10 percent, the highest 10 percent of high school graduates access to any university in the state. That's the kind of access the president says that he supports, but as you said, this is a very politically charged issue, particularly since the comments recently from Senator Trent Lott.
And also, it's at a time when the administration is trying to reach out to minorities, both Hispanics and blacks, minorities across the board, in hopes of getting them more on board with the Republican Party, particularly as heads to the next election.
Now, Democrats aren't waiting for a final decision on this. Senate minority leader Tom Daschle talking to reporters this morning, called this a watershed moment for the White House, and he said that they would be hard pressed to show how they can be for diversity if they're against laws that promulgate diversity -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash, live from the White House thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 15, 2003 - 13:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now first this hour, the White House and affirmative action. After the Trent Lott debacle, there was talk of reaching out to minorities on the part of the GOP, but not this time.
At issue, a constitutional test involving access to higher education.
CNN's Dana Bash is standing by at the White House to tell us what's at stake -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, a lot of court watchers say that this is probably one of the most important cases on affirmative action that the Supreme Court will see in a generation, so the White House is considering whether or not they want to weigh in. And sources are telling us that the president will probably endorse a brief to oppose the kind of quotas that are going on at the University of Michigan. That's the case the Supreme Court will hear. That brief is due tomorrow.
The president met last night with advisers, talking about what he intends to do and what kind of statement he intends to make. He's also meeting with them today. And the key here is, in addition to saying that the White House opposes what's going on at Michigan, opposes quotas, what else do they want to say? What kind of statement does the president want to make?
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that the president wants to make sure that people know that he believes diversity is an important goal, and that it's a challenge, he said, to make sure that you have diversity without having quotas. He said that is a very hard challenge to reach, both politically and constitutionally.
But Ari Fleischer reminded reporters that the president did support back when he was governor what he calls affirmative access, which is giving the top 10 percent, the highest 10 percent of high school graduates access to any university in the state. That's the kind of access the president says that he supports, but as you said, this is a very politically charged issue, particularly since the comments recently from Senator Trent Lott.
And also, it's at a time when the administration is trying to reach out to minorities, both Hispanics and blacks, minorities across the board, in hopes of getting them more on board with the Republican Party, particularly as heads to the next election.
Now, Democrats aren't waiting for a final decision on this. Senate minority leader Tom Daschle talking to reporters this morning, called this a watershed moment for the White House, and he said that they would be hard pressed to show how they can be for diversity if they're against laws that promulgate diversity -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash, live from the White House thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
