Introduction

Years before their appointments to the highest court in the land, Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas both walked the hallowed halls of Yale Law School as beneficiaries of affirmative action policies. After handing down the ruling on affirmative action, both justices stood to deliver their different opinions about affirmative action: Sotomayor in support, Thomas against.

To discuss this moment and how two people can have the same experience and land at drastically different conclusions, host Brittany Luse is joined by Ron Elving, Senior Editor and correspondent on NPR's Washington desk, and Leah Wright Rigeur, professor of history at Johns Hopkins University.

Then, Brittany invites Janelle Wong, University of Maryland professor and political scientist, to unpack the various public faces of the efforts to end affirmative action - and how the myth of the model minority shifted the conversation.

You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at ibam@npr.org.

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