Authors

Louis Michael Seidman, Georgetown University Law Center

Brown Now: The Surprising Possibility of Progressive Reform

Abstract

For four decades, the Supreme Court has engaged in a determined, systematic, and successful effort to transform and tame Brown v. Board of Education. But there is a surprising counterweight to this standard narrative. If one takes modern doctrine seriously, the Supreme Court’s refashioning of Brown has the potential to support some progressive goals. The modern Court’s decisions provide a basis for upholding race-conscious but facially neutral measures that promote racial diversity, striking down legacy admission standards in colleges and universities, and strictly scrutinizing laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation. The last Part of this Article speculates about whether modern doctrine should be taken seriously.

Repository Citation

Louis Michael Seidman, Brown Now: The Surprising Possibility of Progressive Reform, 66 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1021 (2025), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol66/iss4/6