At the Supreme Court, the justices continued to struggle to find tools that could be used to promote the advancement of African Americans as well as other historically marginalized groups—without running afoul of the guarantees of equality written into the U.S. Constitution. If the arguments appeared technical and narrow, it was because the Court was trying to find ways of finessing societal problems that defied sweeping solutions and yes-or-no answers, as well as buying time to nudge other democratic institutions to wrestle with the issues. On the
