Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
Keywords
powell, diversity, affirmative action, pluralism, Jim Crow, segregation, Bakke, Parents Involved, Seattle, Ricci, DeStefano, Segregation, Integration, Brown, myrdal, Cold War
Abstract
Though diversity remains a compelling state interest, recent rulings like Ricci v. DeStefano and Parents’ Involved toll a menacing bell for schools employing racial classifications to admit minority students. Yet, defenders of diversity may find refuge in original meanings, particularly the original meaning of diversity as articulated by Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. in Regents v. Bakke in 1978. Virginian by birth, Powell’s interest in “genuine diversity” coincided with a forgotten version of pluralism extant in the American South during thefirst half of the Twentieth Century. Further, Powell’s conviction that diversity distinguished America coalesced during a trip to the Soviet Union in 1958. Recovering Powell’s pluralism not only sheds new light on theJustice, but might hold the key to new ways of thinking about diversity generally in university admissions.
Recommended Citation
Walker, Anders, Diversity's Strange Career: Recovering the Racial Pluralism of Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (November 18, 2009). Santa Clara Law Review, Vol. 50, p. 647, 2010.