[…]
The court’s guidance could also affect reforms not just aimed at changing the racial makeup of selective schools, but also the economic diversity of such schools, said Richard Kahlenberg, an education and housing researcher for the Progressive Policy Institute, who has opposed race-based affirmative action programs but supported economic-based affirmative action.
A ruling for the plaintiffs, Kahlenberg said, could make it easier for conservatives to sue school districts over economic race-neutral affirmative action programs.
He added: “That’s the worry — that you freeze in an unfair status quo, and any reform that negatively impacts white or Asian students would be cause for concern among those on the right.”
[…]
