In the matter of dismantling affirmative action, Bill Clinton may be a conservative's most powerful ally. In an approach to public policy that characterized the earliest days of his presidency, Mr. Clinton has traveled the width and breadth of the affirmative action landscape. His most recent indecision, manifested in his flip-flopping in a case before the the U.S. Supreme Court, may be reason for cheers from the opponents of race-based favoritism.

"This case is interesting," says law professor Doug Kmiec, a former Reagan-era Department of Justice official, "because the United States has been on every side of it."

The complaint that kicked off Piscataway (N.J.) Township Board of Education v. Taxman was filed with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission while George Bush was still president. That would explain some of the government's schizophrenic approach. But, as Mr. Kmiec notes, "We are talking about the same statute and the same Constitution."

Read the complete article.