Since the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), businesses that have been committed to diversity initiatives have been worried about what the decision would mean for their DEI programs. Last summer, as feared, the decision in the case ended affirmative action programs in college admissions.

A close reading of the case, however, reveals that the case does not invalidate private diversity efforts, notwithstanding political efforts to conflate the two issues. Thus, the legal industry must press ahead aggressively to achieve better representation in business for all demographic groups.