History offers the best argument for continuing affirmative action

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in two cases challenging the constitutionality of affirmative action in higher education, writes Glenn Altschuler, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies, in a Washington Post perspective.

"The court’s decisions will be shaped by decades of partisan contention over the meaning of affirmative action, during which opponents have distorted the policy’s justifications and obscured its successes," Altschuler writes in the piece with co-author David Wippman. "Opponents’ constricted understanding of affirmative action today is not altogether surprising. For well over 150 years, many White Americans have felt disadvantaged by government policies enhancing opportunities for women and racial minorities in employment, education and other areas."

Read the story in the Washington Post.