The Supreme Court formally rejected affirmative action in college admissions in the 2023 case of Students for Fair Admissions vs Harvard, but the legal case did not resolve the larger dispute in American society or necessarily end schools’ efforts to manipulate the ethnic composition of their classes.
New research from David Broockman and Josh Kalla indicates that moving to the center on this topic is the single most potent thing that Democrats can do to improve their electoral standing, and the second-best issue they found was on the closely related topic of racial targeting of small business assistance. I covered the research in a recent New York Times op-ed and, of course, have many times made the case for a pragmatic move to the center.
But people also care about the substance and the merits of the issue, not just the politics, so Jerusalem Demsas and I debated it for the debut episode of our new Podcast.
“In a basic way,” I argue in the episode, “it is not a good idea to be slotting people into racial and ethnic categories and judging them on that basis. It’s not fair to people, and it’s not healthy for society.”
Jerusalem takes the other side, making the case that nobody has a moral right to slots at specific colleges and that representation at elite school has important downstream consequences for society at large.
New episodes post every Thursday.
You can find The Argument on Substack, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Further reading:
“Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges” by Raj Chetty, David J. Deming, and John N. Friedman
“Breaking Systemic Barriers: Being Black in the Aquatic Sciences and Related Fields” by Lauren Pharr
“Smartphones, Online Music Streaming, and Traffic Fatalities” by Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham, Michael Liu, and Anupam B. Jena
Corrections:
At 0:05:36, Matt says “LSAT flunk rates” when he means “bar exam flunk rates.”
At 0:07:06, Jerusalem says “data from Sander’s” when she means “data from Sander’s critics.”
At 0:18:46, Jerusalem says Raj Chetty’s data shows that attending an elite school “doubles” the likelihood of reaching the top income quintile when she means “increases by 50%.”
Show notes:
Research showing Black patients have better health outcomes in areas with more Black doctors: JAMA Network Open study, JAMA Network Open study
Research showing Black doctors are more likely to choose primary care specialties than their white counterparts: Journal of the National Medical Association study, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) study
Coverage of U.S. shortage of primary care doctors: Harvard Health Publishing article, AAMC study
Research showing the presence of Black judges on a federal appellate panel changes behavior of their non-Black colleagues: Princeton study, Crime & Delinquency study
Research on India’s caste-based reservation system: International Journal of Law study
Research showing presence of female legislators in India makes female constituents’ concerns more likely to be heard: Cambridge University Press study
Research showing this increases water and road infrastructure: Econometrica study
Research on mismatch effect in law schools: Journal of College and University Law article, ABA Journal article, Journal of Legal Education article
Research on selective school enrollment only having a significant effect on lifetime earnings if the student comes from a disadvantaged background: National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, National Bureau of Economic Research working paper
Coverage of decrease in professional diversity after California’s affirmative action law was struck down: NPR article, Berkeley Law study, Industrial and Labor Relations Review study
Coverage of Elizabeth Warren taking a DNA test to demonstrate Native American ancestry and subsequently apologizing The New York Times article, The Washington Post article, NPR article
Raj Chetty, David Deming, and John Friedman research showing large effects of attending elite schools: NBER working paper
Coverage of future-President Obama saying his daughters didn’t need affirmative action assistance: Politico article, The Seattle Times opinion article, The New York Times article
Coverage of President Clinton campaigning on a promise to “mend not end” affirmative action: The New York Times article, The Baltimore Sun article
Coverage of Harvard admissions discriminating against Asian Americans: European Economic Review article, Harvard Law Review article
Article by Judge Glock describing how firms promote minority leaders in order to obtain contracts set aside for “disadvantaged” companies: City Journal article
Coverage of men getting an advantage in college admissions because of gender imbalances: The New York Times Magazine article, New York Post article
2021 argument that marine biology needed more diversity: Coastwatch magazine article
Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Coverage of affirmative action gaining momentum during Kennedy and LBJ administrations: UCI Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity brief
Books by Richard Kahlenberg on affirmative action:
The Remedy: Class, Race, And Affirmative Action, 1996: Goodreads page
Class Matters: The Fight to Get Beyond Race Preferences, Reduce Inequality, and Build Real Diversity at America’s Colleges, 2025: Goodreads page
Coverage of Texas’ “Top 10% Rule,” which initially stated that anyone in the top 10% of their high school class was automatically admitted to UT Austin. The rule has since been amended to the top 6% being admitted to UT Austin: UT News article, Texas Comptroller program page
Peer ReviewTM study: “Smartphones, Online Music Streaming, and Traffic Fatalities,” by Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham, Michael Liu & Anupam B. Jena: NBER working paper
Public opinion data on self-driving cars: The Argument polling, Pew Research Center polling, Brookings article
Coverage of voice-activated devices proving distracting for drivers: AAA study, ABC News article
(Illustration by The Argument, image by Harvard University)
