In the controversial 2003 University of Michigan affirmative action case, as in so many other cases, the "swing vote" in the five-four split on the case proved to be that of Sandra Day O'Connor.
In Swing Dance: Justice O'Connor and the Michigan Muddle (Hoover Institution Press, 2004) Hoover fellow Robert Zelnick examines Justice O'Connor's voting history as a Supreme Court justice from her early days on the Court to its most important ruling to date. In addition to a review of her earlier cases, he provides an intensive review of the University of Michigan case as it was argued. Finally, he discusses the repercussion of this case and how the university adapted its admissions program to fit the specific requirements of the Court's ruling.
Zelnick, an Emmy Award–winning journalist, is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and chairman of the Department of Journalism at Boston University. During a twenty-year career with ABC News, he covered political and congressional affairs for ABC Morning News, World News Tonight Saturday/Sunday, and This Week. While at ABC News Zelnick acted as the Pentagon correspondent from 1986 to 1994, as a Tel Aviv correspondent from 1984 to 1986, and as a Moscow correspondent from 1982 to 1984.
Swing Dance: Justice O'Connor and the Michigan Muddle
by Robert Zelnick
ISBN: 0-8179-4522-9 $15.00 paperback
208 pages June 2004
