Opinion: Gorsuch Paves Way for End of Affirmative Action: Cass Sunstein

Does the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, forbidding employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, also spell the end to affirmative action?

That may sound like a crazy question. But Justice Neil Gorsuch’s opinion, emphasizing the need to follow the “original public meaning” of legal texts, gives a real boost to opponents of affirmative action. In fact, a passage in that opinion seems as if it was explicitly meant to provide that boost.

Here’s the background. The key provision of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it

unlawful . . ...