On Monday, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Abigail Fisher v. University of Texas, a case that was poised to end affirmative action in admissions to public universities. Instead, the Court sent the case back to a lower court, with the instruction that it examine Texas’s admissions program more skeptically, with what is known as “strict scrutiny.” The lower court was told to ask if there might be a less race-conscious way to put together a diverse student body. But the Supreme Court’s prior affirmative-action rulings, saying that race may be used as a factor to achieve that goal, have survived—for now. Here is a look back at the landmark rulings, from desegregation to affirmative action, on the Court’s road to Fisher, a journey that’s not over.





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