About the Author

Carl Cohen is professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, USA and the author of Affirmative Action and Racial Preference.

Reviews

"Carl Cohen was an eyewitness and key participant in the debates over racial preferences in college admissions for nearly 40 years. His book aims to advance his long-standing principled argument against racial preferences in college admissions. He does this by citing Constitutional law, legal history, and the long struggle for black civil rights. His general point is that the Constitution is and ought to be colorblind. Racial preferences in college admissions violate both the letter and spirit of our nation's commitment to equal treatment under the law. Interwoven with this legal argument is a moral argument. Cohen makes it clear that he finds disparate treatment of individuals based on race to be repugnant. I know of no other source that is comparable."--Peter Wood, President of National Association of Scholars"Carl Cohen's memoir is fascinating and important on two counts: one, as an insider account of a pair of the most important civil rights cases in our generation; and second, as the story of a liberal professor caught, by commitment to his principles, in the vortex of unremitting political correctness at an otherwise great university."--Richard Sander, author of Mismatch: How Affirmative Action Hurts Students It's Intended to Help, and Why Universities Won't Admit It

"The book is part memoir, part history, part policy--and all excellent."--The Federalist Society"If anyone deserves a lifetime achievement award for dedication to civil liberties and ivil rights it is Carl Cohen.A Conflict of Principles gives us an insider's account of some of the most important legal and constitutional struggles he has taken on over the past three decades."--Academic Questions"A Conflict of Principles is a kind of legal memoir, tracking Mr. Cohen's own involvement in the battles over racial preferences and, in engaging and lucid prose, offering a critique of the judicial reasoning behind several momentous court decisions."--Wall Street Journal