At the heart of the Ricci case, which Judge Sonia Sotomayor attempted to bury so that it couldn't be appealed when she heard it by upholding the lower court's anti-Ricci decision without an opinion (outraging her mentor Judge Jose Cabranes), is the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Four-Fifths Rule.This regulation says that on any employment test, the lowest scoring ethnic group better pass at a rate at least 80% as high as the highest scoring ethnic group.
The fashionable Advanced Placement tests provide us with a database to test the reasonableness of the rule that gives the Disparate Impact theory its teeth. As I mention in post below, blacks only pass AP tests at a per capita rate not Four-Fifths but One-Twentieth of the Asian rate.
But what about just those more elite students who bother to take AP tests? How reasonable is the Four-Fifths rule for them?
The gaps are smaller, but not a single AP exam would pass the EEOC's Four-Fifth's Rule, as the table below shows. (And many colleges require not just scores of 3, but 4s or 5s, which make the racial gaps substantially larger.)
| Passing Rates |
White |
Asian |
Black |
Hispanic |
Min / Max |
| Total Exams |
62% |
64% |
26% |
42% |
40% |
| Italian |
47% |
28% |
19% |
66% |
29% |
| Econ: Macro |
56% |
62% |
21% |
27% |
34% |
| Hum Geography |
59% |
61% |
21% |
34% |
34% |
| Enviro Sci |
60% |
58% |
20% |
31% |
34% |
| World History |
55% |
59% |
20% |
27% |
34% |
| Chemistry |
57% |
65% |
23% |
30% |
35% |
| Econ: Micro |
66% |
70% |
25% |
36% |
35% |
| Statistics |
63% |
68% |
24% |
34% |
35% |
| English Lit |
69% |
63% |
24% |
36% |
35% |
| Spanish |
53% |
55% |
28% |
80% |
35% |
| Biology |
54% |
59% |
21% |
26% |
36% |
| US History |
53% |
56% |
21% |
27% |
38% |
| English Compos. |
67% |
64% |
27% |
33% |
40% |
| Gov: US |
57% |
54% |
23% |
28% |
40% |
| Comp Sci A |
61% |
61% |
25% |
35% |
41% |
| Comp Sci AB |
73% |
78% |
32% |
61% |
42% |
| Physics B |
64% |
64% |
27% |
31% |
42% |
| Gov: Compar. |
64% |
67% |
30% |
42% |
44% |
| Chinese |
77% |
99% |
75% |
44% |
45% |
| Music Theory |
71% |
78% |
36% |
46% |
46% |
| Calculus AB |
65% |
66% |
30% |
39% |
46% |
| Japanese |
57% |
84% |
44% |
40% |
48% |
| Art: History |
62% |
57% |
31% |
43% |
51% |
| Euro History |
65% |
65% |
33% |
40% |
51% |
| Psychology |
72% |
71% |
38% |
48% |
53% |
| French Lit |
70% |
71% |
38% |
48% |
53% |
| Physics C: Mech |
75% |
76% |
44% |
50% |
58% |
| Latin Lit |
67% |
69% |
42% |
52% |
60% |
| Studio Art: Drawing |
70% |
77% |
48% |
56% |
61% |
| Latin: Vergil |
62% |
69% |
47% |
44% |
63% |
| German |
66% |
73% |
46% |
60% |
64% |
| Physics C: E&M |
70% |
73% |
47% |
55% |
64% |
| Calculus BC |
82% |
82% |
55% |
63% |
67% |
| Studio Art: 2-D |
70% |
72% |
52% |
59% |
72% |
| Spanish Lit |
70% |
77% |
56% |
60% |
73% |
| Studio Art: 3-D |
64% |
67% |
50% |
49% |
73% |
| French |
57% |
57% |
49% |
42% |
74% |
