Supreme Court affirmative action ruling leaves 'door open' for practice to continue: legal expert

We can expect a "wave of litigation" stemming from people wrongly attempting to apply the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action to various situations, according to Neal Katyal, who said we can also expect affirmative action to continue at universities despite the ruling.

In a wide-ranging interview on MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States Katyal suggested that the ruling striking down universities' use of affirmative action policies will be misapplied to corporate life and that the decision actually leaves the door open for affirmative actions policies that are well written.

"I think that is a decision that is disappointing, but in some ways, it's more narrow than people expected, because it did leave the door open to well crafted affirmative action plans, plans that focus on an individual's applications, what he or she writes in the essay, focusing on the impact of race," Katyal said.

The host called that observation "a sliver of sunshine."

Katyal went on to say the long-term effects of the ruling could include lawsuits from numerous individuals seeking to do away with any form of affirmative action policy in any area of life. That, he added, would be an incorrect interpretation of the ruling itself.

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