After eight months of deliberation, the Supreme Court delivered a ruling today in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a case regarding affirmative action in college admissions. In a surprise 7–1 decision (Elena Kagan recused herself), they sent it back to lower courts with some new instructions.

From the NYT:

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered lower courts to take a fresh look, under a more demanding standard, at the race-conscious admissions policy used to admit students to the University of Texas. The 7-to-1 decision was simultaneously modest and significant, and its recalibration of how courts review the constitutionality of affirmative action programs is likely to give rise to a wave of challenges to admissions programs at colleges and universities nationwide… For now, the Texas program and other affirmative action programs can continue without changes.

For further breakdown, see the Times‘s post on four takeaways from the ruling, and this SCOTUSblog “Plain English” explanation of the decision, which includes gems from Clarence Thomas (“The arguments advanced by the University in defense of discrimination are the same as those advanced by the segregationists”) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (“only an ostrich could regard the supposedly race-neutral alternatives as race unconscious”).

And all I can think about is how embarrassing and stupid it is to be a white person suing a school you applied to because they let people of color in and you think you deserve their place. Goddamn, I hope Abigail Fisher lives long enough and lives a kind of life where she can realize that embarrassment, and feel it. Here’s one reason why, from ProPublica’s Nikole Hannah-Jones:

The claim that race cost Fisher her spot at the University of Texas isn’t really true.

In the hundreds of pages of legal filings, Fisher’s lawyers spend almost no time arguing that Fisher would have gotten into the university but for her race…

University officials claim in court filings that even if Fisher received points for her race and every other personal achievement factor, the letter she received in the mail still would have said no.