Why DEI Will Not Die

• Pages: 409-423
• Date: 01 July 2024
• Published date: 01 July 2024
• Author: Jesse Merriam
• Subject Matter: Derecho Público y Administrativo

Why DEI Will Not Die

JESSE MERRIAM*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

I. COURTS AND SOCIAL CHANGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

A. Courts as a Hollow Hope for Activists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

B. Three Critical Features for Courts to Create Social Change . . 414

II. THE MOVEMENT AGAINST AFFIRMATIVE ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

A. Asymmetric Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

B. The Center for Individual Rights and the Grutter Lesson . . . . . 417

C. Anti-DEI Activism and the New Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

INTRODUCTION

Aff‌irmative action is dead and DEI programs are next—that is the consensus,

at least, on both the left and right. Indeed, following the Supreme Court’s deci-

sion in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard,

1

a chorus of experts and pundits

declared the off‌icial end of aff‌irmative action,

2

Indeed, in the days following the decision, many leading publications featured “the end of

aff‌irmative action” as the headline. See, e.g., Jelani Cobb, The End of Aff‌irmative Action, T

HE NEW

YORKER (June 29, 2023), https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/10/the-end-of-aff‌irmative-

action [https://perma.cc/H2LL-QGAY]; German Lopez, The End of Aff‌irmative Action, N.Y. TIMES

(June 30, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/30/brief‌ing/aff‌irmative-action-supreme-court-decision.

html [https://perma.cc/BP2Q-FRXD].

with the left and right disagreeing

only on whether this will produce benef‌icial or harmful results.

3

Compare Wilfred Reilly, The End of Aff‌irmative Action Is Good News for Black and Hispanic

Students, NAT’L REVIEW (July 8, 2023), https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/07/the-end-of-aff‌irmative-

action-is-good-news-for-black-and-hispanic-students/ [https://perma.cc/ANA6-Q2N4] and Yukong Zhao,

Striking Down Aff‌irmative Action Is a Historic Victory for Asian Americans—and All Americans, NAT’L

REVIEW (July 10, 2023), https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/07/striking-down-aff‌irmative-action-is-a-

historic-victory-for-asian-americans-and-all-americans/ [https://perma.cc/3N92-EBAG], with Chris Geary,

New Barriers for Community Colleges, INSIDE HIGHER ED (Oct. 20, 2023), https://www.insidehighered.

With aff‌irmative

* Dr. Jesse Merriam is an associate professor of Government at Patrick Henry College, where he is

the pre-law advisor and teaches courses in constitutional law, legal theory, and logic. Dr. Merriam is

also a research fellow at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life. © 2024, Jesse

Merriam.

1. Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023).

2.

3.

409