The Supreme Court’s race-blind America is a fantasy

Plus: Ukraine needs more ammo, Miami is the new San Francisco and more. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a risk-weighted asset measured by the standardized approach of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [SCOTUS]( scrapped another [precedent](. - Ukraine is running out of [ammo](. - [Miami]( is the new San Francisco. - Banks get fresh [capital requirements](. Footnotes First If Matt Levine is the [King of Footnotes](, then Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is, undoubtedly, the Queen. Because this, my friends, is one heck of a [footnote](: I know, I know! It’s rather unorthodox to begin a newsletter with a footnote, of all things. But Brown Jackson’s [takedown]( of Justice Clarence Thomas — where she calls out his “[race-neutral](” [pink-elephant paradox]( — is something to behold. Her dissent deserves prime billing, not *scrolls down* page 234 of 237. So in this newsletter — and on Twitter, at least — that’s what it gets: What raised Brown Jackson’s ire was today’s Supreme Court decision to [end affirmative action]( in college admissions. The ruling ushers in a new era that will “make it harder for colleges and universities to be what our country urgently needs them to be: [engines of opportunity that propel us toward a more equal society](,” Michael R. Bloomberg — founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP — writes. Noah Feldman says the majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, “[eviscerated the diversity arguments](” of universities across the country. Roberts referred to the “equal protection” theory that says “it is effectively always wrong to treat people differently based on race, no matter why.” In other words, Noah writes: “It doesn’t matter whether the objective is to help rectify past injustice or foster more social mobility.” The so-called “colorblind” theory in the 14th amendment of [the Constitution]( — initially intended to grant citizenship to formerly enslaved African Americans — is now being used to hinder the social mobility of the descendants of those same freed people. Affirmative action is far from perfect, but society hasn’t “reached that fabled moment when we really can put all consideration of race behind us. That's why, for now, [we still need this imperfect solution]( to a compelling problem,” Stephen Carter  — a proud product of affirmative action himself — writes. Plus, students are constantly “granted special consideration for admissions,” Michelle Obama [tweeted]( today: “Some have parents who graduated from the [same school](. Others have families who can afford coaches to help them run faster or hit a ball harder. Others go to high school with lavish resources for tutors .... We don’t usually question if those students belong.” The Supreme Court decision doesn’t leave universities powerless. There are plenty of other methods to promote campus diversity, such as increasing financial aid — public and private — to ensure need-blind admissions, which is something that Michael Bloomberg has [helped]( Johns Hopkins University accomplish. The end of race-based admissions will no doubt have [implications]( beyond the college classroom: "[For companies](, the ripple effects of the ruling could be immediate,” Bloomberg News’s Kelsey Butler explained, adding that less diversity on campus translates into “fewer people from underrepresented groups” making “their way into jobs and management roles." Sadly, that’s not something a footnote alone can dismantle. Ukraine Has a PPE Problem A part of the [pandemic]( that I think a lot of us would prefer to forget was the [mask shortages](. People were willing to do crazy stuff — covering their [mouths with bras]( or wearing [water tanks](over their heads — to keep the virus from seeping into their lungs: Source: AFP For months, we were told to [conserve PPE]( so that medical professionals and essential workers could do their jobs safely — and even then, there were serious struggles: “We are at war with no ammo,” a surgeon in Fresno, California, [told]( the New York Times in March 2020. Although the pandemic was a unique sort of hell, the world descended into yet another war – the one in Ukraine — less than three years later. And this stage of the battle feels eerily similar to Covid: “If Kyiv can’t find enough [artillery pieces and ammunition](, especially 155mm shells, it will be at a dire firepower deficit along the conflict’s front lines,” Hal Brands writes. For the past year, the West has focused on getting Ukraine more sophisticated forms of protection — high-end tactical missile systems, Storm Shadow cruise missiles, F-16 fighter jets, etc. — akin to our early fixation with finding a vaccine for Covid. “These weapons would certainly help, but success in this war still hinges on an abundance of two less sexy but more critical armaments: artillery ammunition and air-defense systems,” Hal writes. Masks weren’t the sexiest form of ammo against Covid, but [they worked](. And so do 155mm shells. But just as China was the primary manufacturer of PPE, “Putin can produce perhaps 1 million rounds of 152mm artillery ammunition per year as Russian industry gears up. The US produces one-seventh as much,” Hal explains, which has American officials “scouring Peru, Egypt and other locales for vital weapons.” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy is to dry Ukraine out, plain and simple. But his own failures may prove too much. After the mutiny, he appears “dazed and vulnerable,” and “the potential for more instability will only rise,” Bloomberg’s editorial board writes. Read [the whole thing](. Bonus Ukraine-Russia Reading: - Putin may be losing his street cred, but the mutiny didn't destroy [Russia’s bureaucratic underbelly](. — Leonid Bershidsky - What happens to the oil cartel if the [MBS-Putin bromance]( breaks up? — Javier Blas Telltale Charts The first city that comes to mind when you hear “high housing prices,” “not much new construction” and “lots of people leaving for cheaper places” might be San Francisco. But [maybe it should be Miami](: “Migration to and from the Miami area follows a pattern similar to that seen in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other coastal cities a decade or so ago,” Justin Fox writes. Perhaps [Peter Thiel]( was on to something when he said Florida was getting too expensive: America’s big banks may have aced the Federal Reserve’s stress tests, but Paul J. Davies says bank executives — who already have internal systems for assessing risks — are still going to need to [tweak their approach to comply with the Fed’s methodology](. “For almost all of the six biggest US banks, risk-weighted assets measured by the standardized approach are now greater than under their own internal models. That means they report lower capital ratios under the former than the latter, so the regulators’ view has more influence over whether they can make payouts to investors,” he explains. The big question now is how the new approach will change capital requirements. Further Reading [Bidenomics]( won’t pay dividends until years into the future. — Robert Burgess Republicans are [giving Biden a boost]( by taking credit for his policy wins. — Jonathan Bernstein [Squished homebuyers]( are just what the doctor ordered for the US economy. — Conor Sen Something funny is happening with [the highest-flying stock]( in the S&P 500 Index. — Jonathan Levin Pakistan’s deeply stressed-out economy is about to go [into freefall]( … again. — Mihir Sharma KitKats are [no longer carbon neutral](. Here’s why you should celebrate. — Mark Gongloff Chemical production is the weakest since 2009, and some people are saying it’s [Lehman II](. — Chris Bryant ICYMI Welcome to [the New New South](, y’all. [Diet Coke]( is potentially cancerous. Tiffany's flagship store [caught on fire](. The airline with the [most cancellations](. Kickers The Paris Olympics have a [booze ban](. The internet is obsessed with a “[fish doorbell](.” (h/t Mark Gilbert) Alix Earle is giving the University of Miami a [business scholarship](. “[Beaver bombing](” is good for the environment. (h/t Candice Zachariahs) Source: [Twitter]( (h/t Emily Ferber) Notes: Please send 100 tater tots and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](