In the context of a concerted assault on affirmative action policies that began more than 10 years ago and the current dominance of the right-wing in political discourse and action in the US, the US Supreme Court's rulings in the two University of Michigan affirmative action cases last month are certainly surprising. Few would have expected a rightward drifting court to endorse so firmly a left-leaning policy like racial/ethnic preferences. How can this remarkable outcome be explained?
