Summary
Last summer, Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority struck down race-conscious admission programs adopted by Harvard College and the University of North Carolina. Now, Edward Blum, who was behind the attack on affirmative action in the SFFA case, and other litigants have a new strategy: remake the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
Congress chose this text for good reason: The Reconstruction-era Civil Rights Act was critical to enforcing the 13th Amendment. The Fearless Fund ruling perverts the statute’s roots in securing economic justice. The Congress that enacted the Civil Rights act of 1866 knew that private efforts were crucial to racial and economic uplift.
