Page 36 - FDCC Insights Spring 2022

Imoh E. Akpan
The End of Affirmative Action: How the Supreme Court’s Upcoming Decisions will Affect Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts
By Imoh E. Akpan
I. Introduction
This year will be an impactful year for the United States Supreme Court. Just recently, President Joe Biden made a historic decision when he nominated the first Black woman to the Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.1 Now that she has been confirmed by the US Senate, Judge Jackson will be the first Black female Justice to sit on the highest Court in the country.2 Although Jackson’s confirmation is historic for many marginalized communities that have not been represented on the Court since its formation with the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1789, she and the remaining eight justices will be faced with an important question of law.3 The Court will have to address an issue that has been the center of controversy since its establishment by President Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order of 1965.4 The Justices will be required interpret laws surrounding affirmative action.5 Affirmative action is defined as:
A set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future. Applicants may be seeking admission to an educational program or looking for professional employment. In
34
1
2 3
4 5
Jake Tapper, Ariane de Vogue, Jeff Zeleny, Betsy Klein, and Maegan Vazquez, Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman to sit on Supreme Court, https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/25/politics/supreme-court-ketanji-brown-jackson/index. html (last visited March 2, 2022).
Id.
See id; see also About the Court, https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/
historyandtraditions.aspx (last visited March 7, 2022).
John Michael Eden & John Paul Ryan, Affirmative Action: Contentious Ideas and
Controversial Practices, http://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/ se/6302/630210.html (last visited March 2, 2022).
See, e.g., Students of Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard Coll., 142 S. Ct. 895 (2022); see also Students of Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina 142 S. Ct. 896 (2022).
Insights SPRING2021