Affirmative action will live to fight another day. The Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 7-1 decision not to strike down the policy that permits race to be a factor in college admissions, and instead sent it back down to the a lower court for further review.
SCOTUSblog’s Tom Goldstein joined NOW with Alex Wagner on Monday. He remarked on the sound of “exhaling” among supporters of affirmative action outside the Supreme Court following the decision. Goldstein added, “it looked like the conservative majority on the Supreme Court was poised to really put a nail in the coffin of affirmative action in education admissions, but they didn’t do that. Both the court’s liberals and conservatives came together for a much narrower decision.”
Attitudes among Americans on affirmative action have changed significantly in the past two decades. According to polling from NBC News and the Wall Street journal, 61% of citizens in 1991 believed affirmative action programs were still needed. In a survey taken in early June, Americans were split at 45% about whether the policy should be continued.
Joy Reid filled in for Alex on Monday. Watch her full interview with Tom Goldstein above.
Joshua Chaffee