Josh Wright and Bill Henderson have provocative posts on affirmative action in law schools.  Bill poignantly notes:

[T]his is an academic minefield, especially for the untenured. Am I dumb enough to take the bait? Well, I guess I don’t like the way I phrased the question. Diversity in legal education and the legal profession are matters of great public importance. Based on my prior and current empirical research on testing and the legal profession, I probably have some original—and hopefully productive—thoughts on this topic. I am inclined to speak honestly and not indulge the belief that I am somehow rolling the dice. If I get run out of the academy for engaging in sincere, thoughtful dialogue on matters of public importance and personal conscience, then this job is not a good long-term fit anyway.

Bill concludes:

I am tired of academics trying to score points at Sander’s expense without offering an alternative hypothesis that directly confronts the data. Faced with the bleak statistics on minorities and the legal profession, our time would be better spent embarking on a Manhattan Project for legal education that examines each nexus of the lawyer creation process, including law school pedagogy. A panel of respected, independent scholars to review the questions raised by Sander and his critics would be a step in the right direction.

Update:

• Josh Wright responds here