I’ve not had the chance to read the text of the ruling(s) [1]as yet, but on the whole, I find myself fairly comfortable that this is by no means a landmark ruling; that it will be revisted, and soon.
It appears that the ruling itself contained indications that the policy would ‘not be needed in a few years’… in Justices Ginsburg’s and Breyer’s concession that “one may hope, but not firmly forecast, that over the next generation’s span, progress toward nondiscrimination and genuinely equal opportunity will make it safe to sunset affirmative action.”...suggesting that at that point such policy would be considered unconstitutional. What the breakpoint is seems an issue the court was unwilling to address, unless there’s something in the text the news folks didn’t pick up on…. which seems likely.
(It’s clear to me they didn’t really understand the ruling they were reporting on, either)
I’ll have some extended comments on all of this over the next week or so, as I have time to read the text.