Ep. 10 | Anti-Affirmative Action Activists Make the Case for Affirmative Action

On Halloween, the Supreme Court will hear two cases challenging the legality of race-conscious admissions. The cases feature a common plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions, which is funded by conservative activists and wants to ban universities from ever considering an applicant's race. This extreme request would overturn decades of precedent and constitutionalize racial advantages for White applicants. The outcome is all but guaranteed: the Supreme Court's rightwing majority will eliminate race-conscious admissions in higher education. But ironically, the plaintiff's own arguments call for more affirmative action, not less. Specifically, the plaintiff exposes how ostensibly colorblind components of Harvard's admissions process privilege wealthy white applicants over more qualified students of color--including Asian Americans. This shouldn't surprise us. But to verify, we do some math. And the verdict is clear. The party attacking affirmative action just made the case for affirmative action.