In my last post about legacy preferences in higher education, I argued for their abolition, but expressed skepticism about claims that they are illegal under current civil rights laws. I still think they are likely legal under current precedent. But it's worth noting that scholars and legal commentators such as Indiana University law professor Gerard Magliocca and my Cato Institute colleague Thomas Berry have put forward strong arguments that legacy preferences at public institutions are banned by the Fourteenth Amendment. They key idea is that state-created hereditary privileges are at least presumptively forbidden.
