Bakke to the future: affirmative action and the US Supreme Court

Abstract

Since 1978 the US Supreme Court has upheld affirmative action in higher education that uses race or ethnicity as a “plus” factor in admissions to produce diversity in entering classes. This essay traces the court's jurisprudence in this field and explains the possible outcomes of its most recent cases.

Keywords:

• affirmative action
• Sandra Day O'Connor
• Grutter v. Bollinger
• equal protection
• Bakke
• Gratz v. Bollinger
• race
• compelling state interest
• Lewis F. Powell
• Anthony Kennedy
• Fisher v. University of Texas at Austi
• Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action
• University of Michigan