On Sunday, February 23, the Institute for Public Affairs of the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America convened its first Conference
on Law and Public Policy in New York City. The conference, entitled
"Race, Rights and Responsibilities," discussed the contentious issues of
voting rights and affirmative action from the perspective of Jewish law
as well as from more general political considerations.
During the morning session on voting rights, Rabbi Eli Clark delivered a
scholarly presentation demonstrating that medieval Jewish law developed
a substantial system of self-governance that dealt with issues
confronting American society today – issues such as the rights of
minority populations to be represented on governing bodies. Rabbi Clark
noted the "essentially democratic" nature of Jewish governing
institutions and the concern of some medieval authorities that all
segments of the population be represented in the governing body.
The panelists for the morning session that responded in part to Rabbi
Clark’s presentation and engaged in a broader discussion of voting
rights issues included Federal District Court Judge John Gleeson (who
only days earlier declared the voting scheme of the Town of Hempstead,
Long Island to be a violation of the Voting Rights Act), Washington
attorney Nathan Lewin and Marc Stern of the American Jewish Congress.
Mssrs. Lewin and Stern debated whether intentionally designing election
districts to assure minority representatives would win elections from
those districts was a policy the Jewish community ought to favor. Judge
Gleeson stated that "from the judicial perspective, we hold greater hope
for American society when we believe that a color blind society – where
a white congressman can fully represent a majority-black district [and
vice versa] is possible."
The conference’s afternoon session focused upon the contentious issue of
affirmative action. Rabbi Barry Freundel, spiritual leader of the
Kesher Israel Congregation in Washington and Adjunct Professor of Law at
Georgetown Law School, asserted in his presentation that Jewish sources
heavily weigh against affirmative action programs. He based this upon
Jewish law’s commitment to equal justice before the law and rejection of
"visiting the sins of the fathers upon the sons." Rabbi Freundel noted,
however, that redress for past wrongs could be resorted to temporarily
if in doing so it was clearly recognized that it was a extraordinary
step.
The panelists discussing the broader policy considerations surrounding
affirmative action were Harvard Law Professor Christopher Edley and
author Richard Kahlenberg. Mr. Edley related to the sizable crowd some
of his experiences during 1995, when he served as Special Counsel to
President Clinton and directed the White House review of federal
affirmative action programs. Among many compelling arguments, Edley
noted that in America, 30% of blacks are discriminated against in the
housing market and the median net wealth of blacks is 8% of that of
whites. Thus, he argued, America is still a society which requires
effective affirmative action programs. Mr. Kahlenberg, in contrast,
argued for a system of affirmative action based upon socio-economic
disadvantage rather than racial categories. Such a system, said
Kahlenberg, "would do better in trying to really address those who are
disadvantaged in our society."
With regard to the conference, in general, IPA Director Nathan Diament
stated that "this was an important moment for the IPA; this is one of
many programs we are initiating to get the Orthodox Jewish community
more engaged in the public policy challenges facing American society."
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