Yale's Justin Driver Addresses School of Law for Constitution Day
In celebration of Constitution Day on Sept. 17, Saint Louis University School of Law welcomed Justin Driver, the Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale Law School, a lecture on the United States Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard, which addressed the future of affirmative action in higher education.
Driver is the author of The Fall of Affirmative Action: Race, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Higher Education, which was published the day just prior to the lecture.
Introduced by Dean Twinette Johnson to a crowded courtroom in Scott Hall, Driver highlighted how the U.S. Supreme Court has traditionally upheld affirmative action, but has done so with a deep sense of ambivalence.
Driver, who clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, noted that in previous decisions the justices believed there would be a time in the future when affirmative action was no longer necessary. Yet our recent history indicates otherwise, as Black enrollment at universities across the country has declined since the most recent SFFA v Harvard decision.
Driver provided the audience of students, faculty and staff with ideas that could address diversity in the student body without violating the Supreme Court decision. For one, he suggested that universities establish relationships and pathway programs with high schools that are underperforming in the area. He gave the example of Yale University working with New Haven Public Schools, admitting the largest number of students from the district in recent years.
Constitution Day is an annual celebration that provides the School of Law a chance to educate others on the importance of the Constitution and to reflect on how it continues to shape our society. This year’s lecture was organized by Constitutional law scholar and Lillie Myers Professor of Law, Anders Walker.