AS I THINK ABOUT THE SUPREME COURT’S UPCOMING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASES, I REMEMBERED THIS: How Diversity Destroyed Affirmative Action: Once race-conscious admissions stopped being about equity and reparation, the only argument for it was the enrichment of white students. That was never going to hold up.

Powell tried to split the difference in Bakke, which is usually a mistake, and substituted “diversity” for “affirmative action.” Everything that’s come since then has basically been a lie, and it’s crumbling. But as even The Nation realizes, it’s fundamentally unstable even on its own terms.