What SCOTUS’s Affirmative Action Decision Means for Corporate DEI

While the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on affirmative action is focused on government actors and universities, it’s inevitable that some corporate leaders will use it as a reason to abandon diversity, equity, and inclusion programs they already opposed. However the authors argue that the court has left plenty of room to continue advancing DEI in the workplace. Three common practices will endure even if the law continues to evolve in a conservative direction: 1) practices to counteract bias, such as removing stereotypical language from job descriptions or conducting structured interviews with a standardized list of questions; 2) ambient policies that work to advance overall diversity, such as employee resource groups, mentorship programs, or family-friendly policies; and 3) universal policies, such as increasing psychological safety. These strategies are legally safe because they benefit everyone, but it’s the people at the margins who stand to benefit most, precisely because they feel most excluded from workplaces without such initiatives.