Not surprisingly, the US Supreme Court's decision earlier this week to grant certiorari in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas has generated wide coverage and commentary in the academic press; you can read CHE's account here and its equivalent at IHE here.
An additional and potentially signifiacnt development has come to light since yesterday as well: Justice Elena Kagan has recused herself from the case A former dean of Harvard Law School, Kagan also served as Solicitor General of the United States from March 2009 until she was apppointed to the Supreme Court by President Obama in 2010. As Solicitor General, she had worked on the Fisher case to prepare a defense of race-based admissions, and would likely have been a supporter of the Texas "diversity" policies currently under legal challenge.
It's worth reading the comments threads to both articles, because the defenders of racial preferences seem particulalry shrill and frantic, with familiar remarks about reverting to pre-Brown v. Board of Education standards, etc., etc. You get the sense that they're worried. On the other hand, the critics are articulate and outspoken in ways that you didn't see too frequently in academic venues until recently.
It's impossible to anticipate what the Court will end up deciding, but reading these pieces gives you the sense that there's been a significant shift in the wind. We hope that's true, as noted here yesterday.
