The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action

There’s been quite a lot of commentary on the Supreme Court’s banning affirmative action based on race in college admissions. The extreme right-wing controlling majority rejects the notion that unequal treatment is warranted to overcome the enduring legacy of unequal treatment. The ruling appears to be particularly egregious given that affirmative action for offspring of alumni, big donors, and other favored groups — what has been rightly called “affirmative action for the lucky”— remains an almost universal feature of our higher education system.