Abstract
One of the first lessons law students learn is the importance of stare decisis. It not only serves as a tool to learn how to apply settled law to argument and persuasive writing, but foundationally stare decisis helps promote the public’s trust, confidence, and faith in the judicial system. Thus, when the Supreme Court issued its 6-3 opinion in 2023 in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard/University of North Carolina (“Harvard”), most onlookers viewed the decision as being the final nail in the coffin for affirmative action in higher education admissions. However, we—the authors—are among the minority.
In our essay, we examine how a future, reconfigured Supreme Court may overturn the Harvard decision using Justice Kavanaugh’s three-prong stare decisis framework applied in Ramos v. Louisiana. We first demonstrate how the decision is egregiously wrong, grounding our decision in the Supreme Court’s failure to acknowledge the historical underpinnings of the Equal Protection Clause as both an anti-subjugation and equal opportunity clause. Second, we note how the Court’s colorblind interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment is already leading to significant jurisprudential and real world consequences, where anti-civil rights activists are using the decision to restrict race-conscious fellowships, contracting and employment, among several other opportunities for advancement. Finally, we predict how the decision will unduly upset reliance interests, including many sectors that rely on racially diverse workers and leaders.
While we acknowledge the critical role stare decisis continues to play in the courts and the court of public opinion, there are exceptions where the Court so carelessly abandons the rule of law and its own jurisprudence that it must be reversed—like Harvard.
Last Page
282
First Page
256
Journal Title
The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice
Recommended Citation
David Hinojosa & Chavis Jones,
Overturning SFFA v. Harvard,
26
The Scholar
256
(2024).
Available at:
https://commons.stmarytx.edu/thescholar/vol26/iss3/1
Volume Number
26
Issue Number
3
Publisher
St. Mary's University School of Law
ISSN
1537-405X
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Education Law Commons, Jurisprudence Commons
