i consider my socially liberal, and even i can recognize that your argument is flawed. there are numerous other hypothesis that can explain the test results. your first hypothesis would be based on the blacks taking the test being a statistically representative sample of all black americans. i don't know how many took the test, but i'm willing to bet not enough to be representative. so what if within this extremely small sub category of black americans (those that took the exam), all of them happened to be of sub-par intelligence. or, even if they were of average or above average intelligence, they had not taken the time to study the necessary material to perform well on that particular exam (as I believe the plantiff states he did). isn't that possible?

I'm not saying that was the case (i wouldn't presume to have any clue about the intelligence or the study habits of a group of people i've never met), but it certainly is within the realm of possibility, making your 2 options a false choice.