ABSTRACT
Recent years have seen contentious debate over the meaning and application of the term ‘equity’. One of President Biden’s first acts in office was to sign an executive order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. It defines equity as ‘the consistent and systemic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment’ including racial and religious minorities, sexual and gender minorities, those with disabilities, those in rural areas, and the poor. On the Wall Street Journal opinion page, Charles Lipson describes this sort of equity to mean ‘equal outcomes, achieved if necessary by unequal treatment, biased competition, and preferential judging’. For Lipson, this equity is contrary to ‘a millennium of Anglo-Saxon law and political evolution’, the Enlightenment, and the legacy of America’s Founders. Such a charged atmosphere makes coming to a sufficiently nuanced and accurate understanding of equity a challenge …
Quigley, Brian, Equity is a Virtue (April 23, 2024).
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