As the Supreme Court jogs toward a ruling on affirmative action, a new National Bureau of Economic Research study shows that many high-achieving high school students deserve affirmation and don’t get it. Colleges interested in diversity that goes more than skin-deep may have to change their ways, but even if the Supremes don’t command it, they should change their ways.

Since the Motown sound went silent—except on oldies stations—and General Motors and Chrysler (but not Ford) required life support from Washington, there has been little to recommend Detroit to visitors, much less its residents.

The recent conviction of Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit, on multiple charges, including racketeering, fraud, and extortion, adds another insult to the city’s injury, increasing its misery.

WASHINGTON—In oral arguments at the end of February, the conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court questioned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that requires mostly Southern states to clear any election-related laws or changes with the U.S. Department of Justice. The bigger question: How much has racism in the South changed since the 1960s and do certain Southern states continue to require special federal oversight?

WASHINGTON—Shelby County, Ala., argued to the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday that racial discrimination problems have changed since the 1960s and Southern states should no longer have the same unique requirements when it comes to election laws. The justices seemed to agree that times have changed, but they could not agree on whether times have changed enough to drop the special provisions against discrimination in the South. 

Last summer I wrote a column for WORLDmag.com about Ryan Bomberger, a pro-lifer who created provocative black pro-life billboard campaigns (e.g., “Black children are an endangered species”). His mission includes keeping Planned Parenthood’s eugenic roots front and center.

Kay Coles James has had many leadership roles in government and nonprofit organizations: She was Virginia’s secretary of Health and Human Resources and President George W. Bush’s director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and is now president of the Gloucester Institute, a leadership training center for young African-Americans (see “Climbing out of the cradle,” Feb. 11, 2012). 

Thanks to all of you who are reading our series of profiles of couples married at least 35 years. We have several news series related to marriage that we’d like to begin in the new year, and we welcome your thoughts on people or groups we should interview in connection with them: