PERSON PROFILE

Clint Bolick

Clint Bolick established the Institute for Justice, and, among other things, drafted legislation that would have ended affirmative action on a federal level. He is what one might call the right wing's legal counsel, defending vouchers and attacking affirmative action in various states across the country. Much of the money to carry on this campaign comes from the Bradley and Olin foundations. Bolick, by the way, was an assistant at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission when Clarence Thomas was chairman. They got close enough that Bolick asked Thomas to be godfather to his youngest son. Clint Bolick established the Institute for Justice, and, among other things, drafted legislation that would have ended affirmative action on a federal level. He is what one might call the right wing's legal counsel, defending vouchers and attacking affirmative action in various states across the country. Much of the money to carry on this campaign comes from the Bradley and Olin foundations. Bolick, by the way, was an assistant at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission when Clarence Thomas was chairman. They got close enough that Bolick asked Thomas to be godfather to his youngest son.

Bolick also played a pivotal role in the right-wing attack on Lani Guinier, Clinton's nominee to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Bolick's Wall Street Journal opinion piece entitled "Clinton's Quota Queens" helped to throw Guinier on the defensive.

Bolick also teamed up with another Bradley-funded outfit, the Free Congress Foundation, to orchestrate anti-Guinier attacks. Guinier's sin was to suggest that proportional representation might be a reasonable means of ensuring that state legislatures and judges' benches not be completely white. Again, President Clinton crumbled under the right-wing pressure, abruptly withdrawing support for his embattled nominee. Today proportional representation has suffered severe judicial defeats, a process that threatens to wipe out decades of racial progress in the areas of state and judicial elections.

...Earlier in his career, Bolick led the defense for the first Wisconsin voucher law, while working for the Landmark Legal Foundation (LLF). The LLF received $310,000 from the Bradley Foundation between 1990 and 1992.

PFAW: Clint Bolick: Anti-Civil Rights, Anti-Public Schools Activist

Right Wing Watch
People for the American Way
October 5, 2006

A Voucher Warrior Steps off the Battlefield?

An Arizona paper announced yesterday that Clint Bolick, president and general counsel for the pro-voucher Alliance for School Choice has taken a position with a Scottsdale law firm. In recent years, Bolick has committed himself to fighting against public education, he first rose to prominence a crusader against affirmative action as a disciple of Clarence Thomas. He was co-founder of the right-wing legal group called the Institute for Justice and a prominent player in the conservative libertarian community.

This news may not indicate Bolick’s outright surrender in the Voucher Wars, but could it be the beginning of a strategic retreat and reorganization at the highest levels of the right-wing coalition against public education?

Read the full report >

Alicia Montgomery
Salon.com
January 15, 2001