We knew this day was coming. But correct prediction does not diminish the cataclysmic decision by the Supreme Court to effectively ban affirmative action in higher education. As many have noted, Black and Latino admissions are all but certain to dramatically drop; the country's progress in remedying the pernicious effects of Jim Crow will be halted and reversed; future generations will be punished.
My colleagues and in-house SCOTUS experts Stephanie Mencimer and Pema Levy have an excellent breakdown of the decision here, which Stephanie and Pema rightfully note comes amid a wider moment of white backlash on the American right against advances toward progress for people of color. For me, that's one of the biggest takeaways from today's decision. That none of this happens in a vacuum. That, if the wrong people succeed, more irreparable damage is all but certain to be unleashed.
Presidential hopeful and GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his ideological allies pushing such initiatives argue that the Constitution is colorblind. He is now hoping to use this agenda as a springboard to the White House.
“The anti-DEI efforts are connected with the anti-affirmative action efforts in the sense that they are trying to erase any notion of systemic discrimination against historically marginalized people of color, including Black people,” says David Hinojosa of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and our “horrid history of slavery and discrimination and the remnants thereof.”
Enrollment of racial minorities at selective universities will now, as lower courts warned, assuredly fall.
"This is not a normal court," President Biden said in his remarks shortly after today's decision dropped. While I certainly agree, I can't help but think that for a large contingency of the American public, this court is both normal and good, and it's achieving the mission to fundamentally rethink civil rights in a country where few people truly get to enjoy them.
—Inae Oh