After the Fall

Justin Driver is the Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He is the author of The Schoolhouse Gate, named a Washington Post Notable Book of the Year and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. An elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, he was appointed by President Biden to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court.

“Justin Driver’s compact and insightful new book appears at a time when the government’s approach to discrimination has shifted dramatically.... [He] does an excellent job of concisely rehearsing the lawyers’ lines of reasoning in terms that non-lawyers can understand.... The [Trump Administration’s] siege is well underway, and one can only hope that university leaders, faculty members and students will consult this worthy book as they work to ensure that those commitments survive.” —Wesleyan president Michael S. Roth, New York Times Book Review“[The Fall of Affirmative Action] is a challenging read for a conservative like me. I always try to read the best arguments for the opposing point of view, and Driver’s arguments in favor of affirmative action are the best I’ve read.” —David French, New York Times“Driver candidly criticizes liberals for too often failing to take on these critiques of affirmative action. He takes them seriously, which is more than many liberals do.... For those who believe that the disproportionately low numbers of Black, Hispanic, and Native American students in the nation’s most selective schools remain a problem to be solved, Driver has some excellent suggestions.” —David Cole, New York Review of Books“A judicious assessment of the history of affirmative action, with strong arguments for diversity in the wake of its demise.” —Kirkus Reviews“This book stands as a brilliant reminder that the nation’s struggles to overcome the tragic legacy of discrimination against African Americans cannot and should not be subject to closure. Justin Driver’s insightful analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard provides much-needed hope for our future. A book critically important to this fraught moment for American higher education.” —Lee C. Bollinger, president emeritus of Columbia University and author of A Legacy of Discrimination: The Essential Constitutionality of Affirmative Action“Justin Driver is a dazzling commentator on legal affairs who deploys prodigious knowledge and a knack for lively writing to make complex controversies accessible. This is, without exception, the single best volume in the library of books about affirmative action. It passionately advances a thesis—affirmative action is useful and ought not to have been nullified—while paying scrupulous attention to contending points of view. It is a masterful intervention that offers bracing instruction whatever your prior inclination. The Fall of Affirmative Action warrants reading and rereading.” —Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School“Although much has been written about affirmative action, Professor Justin Driver has written a book that is stunning in its originality and insights. He carefully shows the weaknesses in both the conservative critiques and the liberal defenses of affirmative action. Most important, he offers a concrete path forward for universities to pursue diversity while being consistent with the Supreme Court’s rulings.” —Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of University of California, Berkeley School of Law“Always read Justin Driver, one of our foremost thinkers on law and education—especially now, when so much is unsettled in this enormously consequential domain of American life. This book is full of insight, trenchant analysis, and provocative questions about what the loss of affirmative action means.” —Emily Bazelon, author of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration“Justin Driver wields one of America’s most agile legal minds, and this important book shows it. In the face of affirmative action’s demise, he does something rare: offers clear-eyed, workable ideas to help American higher education pursue its highest ideals.” —Franklin Foer, author of The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future