If the legacy you would leave is enhanced racial justice and harmony, it will require leadership. And to lead, you must begin by being honest with the American people. The court held that racial preferences violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. And the Supreme Court so held with respect to public contracting in the Adarand case. But you don't have to be a constitutional scholar to understand what's wrong with race-based preferences in public hiring, contracting and university admissions.
Preferences are unfair.
And because they are unfair, racial preferences are inescapably divisive. To the contrary, the divisiveness caused by preferences is what caused Prop 209. It was a response by people who had strongly supported federal and state civil rights protections to end not mend racial discrimination. The fact is, however well-intended, racial preferences are by definition the very racial discrimination that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was intended to outlaw. Mr. President, I respectfully urge that rather than continuing to fight the wrong fight in the courts, you focus instead upon what is in fact required to bring about true equality of access to opportunity in America.