Supreme court justices & health services researchers cite bad science in Affirmative Action debate
Supreme court justices & health services researchers cite bad science in Affirmative Action debate It doesn't matter what your cause is, you should never cite bad science VINAY PRASAD Recently, the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of Affirmative action in two cases. At least two justices wrote dissents, and a number of physicians online commented on the ruling. If you are interested in a full legal analysis, look elsewhere. This post is about what interests me. In discussing the ruling, both a Supreme court justice and a team of physician scientists cite specific research that claims Black doctors lower the risk of death among Black patients/ people. That research is not only flawed, but, given observed effect sizes, has to be wrong. My post is not on affirmative action— but something broader. Many academics are happy to conduct, promote and cite flawed research on sociopolitical issues if it supports their policy preference. This is fundamentally unscientific and