SACRAMENTO, California — The Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to diversity advocates last year when it gutted affirmative action . It also gave them ammunition.
The decision supercharged efforts to outlaw legacy admissions at universities, which had eluded every state but Colorado. Now, four more states — including California — have banned giving preference to the children of alumni, several more have introduced proposals to prohibit the practice, and members of Congress from both parties have floated a federal prohibition.
Legislators, primarily Democrats, have centered their pitches on the fall of race-conscious admissions, arguing that if students of color can’t get a boost, wealthy applicants with alumni ties shouldn’t either. Virginia and Illinois this year banned the practice at public universities, and Maryland and California have outlawed it at private colleges as well.
The lawmaker behind California’s effort had initially tried to pass such a prohibition on the heels of the Varsity Blues admissions-fraud scandal in which wealthy parents paid into a scheme to get their children into top colleges. But it wasn’t until this year, when he focused his case on the collapse of affirmative action, that he was able to get a ban on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk…