Constitutional Sunsetting: Justice O'Connor's Closing Comments in Grutter

Authors

Vikram David Amar
Evan Caminker

Abstract

In this essay, Professors Amar and Caminker discuss the observation Justice O'Connor's majority opinion in Grutter makes that "[wie expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today." While they acknowledge the highly ambiguous nature of this sentence, Amar and Caminker hypothesize this passage as a warning from the Court that it will not necessarily rule a quarter century from now the way it did last summer, even if the underlying demographic facts remain the same. Amar and Caminker discuss how this possible reading fits in with the rest of the Grutter opinion, and with Justice O'Connor's past jurisprudence.

Recommended Citation

Vikram David Amar and Evan Caminker, Constitutional Sunsetting: Justice O'Connor's Closing Comments in Grutter, 30 Hastings Const. L.Q. 541 (2003).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_constitutional_law_quaterly/vol30/iss4/5