On Monday, October 31, 2022, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, and Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard. In this pair of cases, the Supreme Court will assess whether the schools are violating the Equal Protection Clause by using race as a factor in admissions. Ted Shaw of the UNC Center for Civil Rights and David Bernstein of George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School join Jeffrey Rosen to recap the arguments in the cases—including the specific questions asked by each of the justices; discuss how the court will rule when it decides the cases next year; and what the ruling might mean for the interpretation of the 14th Amendment and equality and diversity in high education and American society going forward.
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This episode was produced by Melody Rowell and engineered by Greg Scheckler. Research was provided by Sophia Gardell, Liam Kerr, Emily Campbell, Kelsang Dolma, Sam Desai and Lana Ulrich.
Participants
David Bernstein is the executive director of the Liberty & Law Center at the Antonin Scalia Law School in Arlington, Virginia. His most recent book is Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America, and he is a contributor to several blogs, including The Volokh Conspiracy, Instapundit, and The Times of Israel.
Ted Shaw is the Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and the director of the UNC Center for Civil Rights. Shaw previously taught at the University of Michigan Law School, where he played a key role in initiating a review of its admissions policy that was later upheld in Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003 by the Supreme Court.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Listen to oral argument or read the transcripts at the Supreme Court’s website
- Listen to “Affirmative Action and the 14th Amendment – Part 1”
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
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