Was San Francisco Election Official Not Rehired Because He Wasn't 'Diverse' Enough?
by Alan M. Dershowitz • November 28, 2022 at 5:00 am
The City of San Francisco is a state actor that is constitutionally prohibited from disqualifying job applicants on the basis of race. That is precisely what occurred here, despite the phony claim that Arntz can reapply for his job.
There is one important benefit to the San Francisco decision — at least as compared to university admissions decisions. The San Francisco panel did not try to disguise the racial criteria they are employing, whereas most universities go to great length to deny that race alone is often a dispositive factor in ranking applicants. This will make it easier for the courts to hold Arntz's firing as a clear violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
In the bad old days, race was often used to discriminate against Black applicants. Today race is often used to discriminate in favor of Black applicants. I guess that is some sort of progress. But real progress will be achieved only if and when race is no longer a factor that trumps meritocracy. Only then will Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream of how his children and ours should be judged become a reality.
John Arntz has held the job of San Francisco's director of the Department of Elections for two decades. He has been repeatedly praised for his excellent performance at this increasingly important job — important because of so many election challenges and doubts. Just two years ago, the election commission commended him for his "incredible leadership." But now they are essentially firing him because he is apparently of the wrong race to satisfy their "racial equity plan."
This is what he was told:
"Our decision wasn't about your performance, but after twenty years we wanted to take action on the City's racial equity plan and give people an opportunity to compete for a leadership position."
The mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, disagreed:
