This chapter provides a preliminary sketch of the Supreme Court of the current era. It describes the distinctive political environment in which the sitting justices were appointed and in which they function. It highlights the role that a conservative legal organization, the Federalist Society, has played in vetting potential nominees and in ensuring that the sitting justices who were appointed by Republican presidents are reliably conservative in their commitments. The chapter also discusses the rise of originalism as a theory of constitutional interpretation and frames issues about the relationship between originalist methodology and substantively conservative values that will be a focus of attention through the remainder of the book. Finally, it gives introductory, capsule biographies of each of the current justices. As later chapters will elaborate, it is impossible to understand the Court’s dynamics without a grasp of how the individual justices, taken one by one, approach their jobs.

Chapter 5 examines the shifting landscape of the legal precedents controlling the use of race-conscious admissions policies in higher education. It begins with an in-depth examination of Bakke, which allowed such admissions policies for the sole purpose of pursuing the educational benefits of diversity. The chapter then traces the applications of Justice Powell’s framework announced in Bakke, and includes analyses of Grutter, Gratz, Fisher I, and Fisher II. Taken together, these cases reveal a tenuous adoption of Justice Powell’s approach which serves to prevent a robust pursuit of diversity and racial equity in higher education. The chapter features a discussion of recent ballot measures banning the use of race-conscious admisssions policies in certain states. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of these measures in Schutte. The chapter concludes with an examination of Justice Sotomayor’s thought-provoking dissent in Schutte as well as a summary of the proven neuroscientific benefits of a diverse learning environment.