Reporting from the Case
One Year Later: The Implications of SFFA for Corporate America
Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
The Concept
Understanding How the Supreme Court Decision Affects Workplace DEI Programs
“The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA)… overturned fifty years of legal precedent in striking down the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard College and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Although the actual legal applicability of the decision was largely confined to educational institutions and recipients of federal funds, the rationale behind the Court’s decision—and its very stringent application of the strict scrutiny standard in particular—casts doubt on the legality of race-conscious programs well beyond college admissions.”
Key Points
Challenges to Race-Conscious Programs
“Well-funded cause organizations like America First Legal (AFL) and the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) are bringing a slew of lawsuits challenging diversity programs under existing civil rights statutes. These lawsuits seek to turn such statutes, passed during the Reconstruction Era and the Civil Rights Movement, on their head to block programs that benefit the very populations those laws were enacted to protect.”
Challenges to Race-Neutral Programs
“Anti-DEI organizations are now bringing lawsuits against diversity programs that are, on their face, race neutral in addition to those that expressly consider race.”
“The focus of these lawsuits is the DEI program's outcomes, rather than its stated criteria alone.”
Further Reading
From the Source
The Implications of SFFA for Corporate America
Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
This Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance article is authored by Ishan K. Bhabha (Partner), Erica Turret (Associate), and Peggy Xu (Associate) at Jenner & Block LLP. The article provides analysis of how the Supreme Court's SFFA decision is affecting corporate DEI programs, based on litigation trends and legal developments.
