Affirmative Action and Desert

Examines desert claims related to the affirmative action debate, focusing on the University of Michigan Supreme Court Case, and concluding that, in fact, affirmative action holds up against desert. Following a review of the philosophical literature on desert, attention is given to the University of Michigan undergraduate and law school admission policies. Institutional and pre-institutional theories of desert claims as applicable to those admission policies are then scrutinized. It is argued that the desert claims do not stand up on either kind of desert theory.