Herein lies the rub. How much discretion do institutions that care about diversity have to pursue those ends and why are conservative activists so hostile to these endeavors? | Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo

Opinion by Sheryll Cashin

08/10/2023 04:30 AM EDT

Sheryll Cashin is a law professor at Georgetown University and author of several books on racial justice and American democracy.

As with the Dobbs ruling a year ago — which set off a cascade of legislation restricting women’s access to abortion — conservatives are now wielding the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action in higher education to advance another cultural goal: ending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs.

Their actions have been fast and furious.

• The day after the court issued its opinion ending racial preferences in college admissions, Stephen Miller, former White House advisor and president of America First Legal, sent a warning letter to 200 law school deans, threatening legal action if they did not follow his prescriptions for complying with the case.
  
• Two weeks later, Ed Blum, the founder of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the group that brought and won the admissions case against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, sent an email to 150 colleges demanding compliance with his selective reading of the court’s opinion. In particular, he instructed colleges to issue guidance discouraging applicants from mentioning race in their applications, contrary to Chief Justice John...

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