When the US supreme court abolished women’s access to abortion last year, civil-rights advocates saw the future of affirmative action and other longstanding precedents as similarly bleak. So on Thursday, after the court, which has a conservative supermajority, ruled that Alabama discriminated against Black voters by redrawing its congressional districts, those advocates saw a brief glint of hope.
For some of the legal experts I spoke to, this week’s surprise ruling, which reinforced the Voting Rights Act’s power to protect voters from racial discrimination, represented a promising omen for the preservation of race consciousness in other arenas. Of particular note is the court’s upcoming decision on whether to end race-related affirmative action in colleges and universities. Thursday’s decision, for many, served as an affirmation from the court that protections such as these can and should exist in American law.
