Al Sharpton to Call on Supreme Court Justice to Recuse Himself After Racially Insensitive Remarks

The Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday will call on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to recuse himself from ‪Fisher v. University of Texas after he argued that blacks should attend slower-track schools, where they perform better.

The longtime civil rights leader is scheduled to make the call Saturday during a rally at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem, according to a statement.

The case involves a white woman who claims she was denied admission to the University of Texas because less-qualified blacks were admitted because of the school's affirmative action policies.

During oral arguments, Scalia challenged attorneys defending the university, arguing that some "contend that it does not benefit African Americans to get them into the University of Texas, where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a slower-track school, where they do well."

A firestorm of controversy erupted over the remarks, prompting Sharpton to call on Scalia to recuse himself from the case.

During the meeting Saturday, Sharpton will also announce plans to speak Wednesday at the Conference of National Black Churches in Charleston, S.C., which is expected to draw more than 300 bishops and pastors. The conference will focus on race and reconciliation.

The conference occurs in the home city of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where nine people were gunned down this summer by a self-proclaimed white supremacist.