The vestiges of affirmative action are facing the gallows as Supreme Court Justices decide Fisher v UT, argued recently in our nation’s highest court. The court will issue its decision next year.
This case exemplifies the new chapter in the civil rights struggle in which conservatives are leading the way. In Fisher v UT, Fisher argues that the maintenance of race as an admissions factor creates a badge of inferiority for thousands of minority students who have earned admittance on an even basis.
Unvarnished affirmative action was judged by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional racial discrimination 12 years ago.
Through a little guile, the spirit of affirmative action has lived on in a new admissions regime in which “race is one of many factors taken into account”. It was thought that without an explicitly racist formula, as existed under original affirmative action, de facto affirmative action could be preserved.
It appears likely that de facto affirmative action will be ended when this decision is released, lifting the cloud that this unwanted and unnecessary policy has placed over qualified minority students.
SCOTUSblog post analyzing Fisher v UT