In June 2023, a US Supreme Court ruling on two cases essentially ended affirmative action in higher education. In a 6–3 ruling, the court decided that accounting for race in admissions violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In this deep dive into the ruling, the civil rights lawyer and legal scholar Sherrilyn Ifill and our dean, Tomiko Brown-Nagin—herself an award-winning legal historian and an expert in constitutional law—unpack the issues underpinning affirmative action and provide analysis of the decision for the layperson.
This episode was recorded on October 18, 2023.
Released on February 29, 2024.
Episode Transcript
Guests
Sherrilyn Ifill is a civil rights lawyer and the inaugural Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University, where she leads the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy in collaboration with a variety of institutions in law, business, and the arts, including the Charles Hamilton Houston Center at Harvard Law School. She was the 2022 recipient of the Radcliffe Medal, the Institute’s highest honor.
Guy-Uriel E. Charles is the Charles J. Ogletree Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School where he also directs the Charles Hamilton Institute for Race and Justice. He writes about how law mediates political power and how law addresses racial subordination. He leads the audience Q and A in this episode.
Guest Host
Tomiko Brown-Nagin is dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and a professor of history in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Related Content
Sherrilyn Ifill Howard University Announcement
Event Page
Tomiko Brown-Nagin: Leadership Biography
Radcliffe Day 2022
Credits
Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine.
Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI.
Jeff Hayash is a freelance sound engineer and recordist.
Marcus Knoke is a multimedia intern at HRI, a Harvard College student, and the general manager of Harvard Radio Broadcasting.
Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI.
Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI.
Special thanks to Kevin Grady and Max Doyle from Radcliffe’s event streaming team for their invaluable contributions to recording this podcast episode.

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