SCOTUS Strikes Down Affirmative Action. Corporate DEI May Now Face Pushback In a widely expected ruling, the Supreme Court decided to strike down the use of affirmative action in college admissions, one of the blockbuster decisions of this term. But the implications of the decision in the high court’s rulings in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard may have wider and lasting impacts on corporate diversity initiatives, including those impacting commercial real estate. The rulings were 6-3 and 6-2, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Harvard graduate, recusing herself from the Harvard case. "Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. "The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race. Many universities have for too long done just the opposite." 
Legal experts expect the ruling to open the doors to lawsuits and legal challenges to hiring programs that utilize race as a significant factor. It’s also expected that, long-term, it will impact the number of people of color graduating from colleges and elite universities, which will impact the talent pipeline…  Read the full story here. | 
