May 19, 2014, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (E.D.T.)

In April, the United States Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to Michigan’s statewide ban on race and sex-based affirmative action. Although the vote was 6-2, the ruling produced no majority opinion for the Court. The plurality opinion repudiated the reasoning, but not the results, of an earlier line of decisions that had forbidden states from transferring authority over programs that benefit racial minorities from local to state decision makers. The ruling also produced a sharp disagreement over the continuing need for affirmative action and the social meaning of opposition to affirmative action.

Please join Cornell University Law School Professors Michael C. Dorf and Aziz F. Rana as they discuss:

• The rise and fall of the “political process” doctrine that was repudiated in Schuette;
• The constitutional status of race-conscious government decision making;
• How Schuette fits with various Justices’ views about whether we are living in a “post-racial” society; and
• The practical implications of Schuette.

Don’t miss this important free presentation!