Recalling Powell’s ‘Masterful Compromise’

Forty-five years ago this summer, a divided U.S. Supreme Court, in a ruling authored by Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell – a distinguished alumnus of Washington and Lee University – held that colleges and universities could consider race as one factor among others in admissions decisions. This was the law of the land until two weeks ago, when the court ruled that race could no longer be considered in determining which students are admitted.