The Fall of Affirmative Action: Race, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Higher Education

In After the Fall, award-winning Yale Law professor Justin Driver cuts through the confusion and misinformation surrounding the Court's seismic decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. Driver argues that the ruling does not mark the end of racial diversity in higher education--but rather, the beginning of a new chapter in the fight for equity. With a blend of legal analysis, historical perspective, and provocative argument, he challenges both conservatives who celebrate the ruling as a victory for "colorblind" justice and liberals who despair that the fight is lost.

Driver contends that SFFA has been widely misinterpreted--while the ruling prohibits race-based admissions policies, it leaves universities significant legal room to cultivate diverse student bodies if they act strategically. Second, he reveals how affirmative action's critics, led by billionaire activist Edward Blum, orchestrated a long-game legal strategy that culminated in this moment--not as a triumph of law, but of political maneuvering. And third, he presents a compelling framework for how universities can legally preserve racial diversity through innovative, constitutionally sound admissions policies, such as preferences for first-generation students, descendants of slavery, and applicants from historically marginalized communities.

Far from a eulogy, After the Fall is a blueprint for the future--a rallying call for university leaders, policymakers, and students to push back against the notion that racial diversity is now a relic of the past. The death of affirmative action, Driver insists, need not mean the death of opportunity. Instead, it is a test of will: Will American universities rise to the occasion and forge new paths to inclusion, or will they allow this ruling to roll back decades of progress? The answer, Driver argues, is still being written.