"With All Deliberate Speed": The Ironic Demise of (and Hope for) Affirmative Action

This Essay examines the history of affirmative action, recent Supreme Court oral arguments in cases SFFA v. Harvard and UNC Chapel Hill, perspective each individual Justice on these cases, prospects for Court’s rulings. It frames issues around irony Brown Board Education II (1955), where U.S. ordered that school desegregation occur “with all deliberate speed.” Many critical commentators view this ironic phrase as a signal to Southern states resist desegregation, even it literally seemed embody urgency. argues various ways, speed” applies jurisprudence race-conscious university admissions policies, reflects both demise best hope such policies.