Fixing Our Civil Rights Regime
9th October 2024
The history of civil rights reform is to a considerable degree a history of constitutional conflict. The civil rights revolution has put substantial pressure on a wide array of constitutional principles—including freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, and the separation of powers.
At present, we may be witnessing the beginning of a broad course correction. One very important sign is the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which struck down the diversity justification for affirmative action in higher education. That opinion came as nearly half of the country’s state legislatures push back against DEI and wokeness—especially in higher education. These efforts have borne fruit in a way that is resetting the national agenda.
Oddly, we do not discuss these red state initiatives in terms of “civil rights reform,” though that is in fact what they amount to. That we do not articulate these efforts in the most straightforward terms available (preferring to cry “Marxism!” or “postmodernism!”) raises questions about their long-term prospects. Indeed, this failure to name forthrightly what red states are doing seems to suggest a certain amount of uncertainty and anxiety at the center of contemporary anti-woke efforts.