Neutral in Name: Rothe, the Error of Anticlassification, and the State of Race-Neutral Means

This Note then discusses a 2016 D.C. Circuit decision, Rothe v. United States Department of Defense, where the court of appeals held that a statutory preference awarded to people “who ha[ve] been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice” does not contain a racial classification. In so ruling, the court illustrated one reason why the anticlassification approach to affirmative action jurisprudence is untenable. While anticlassification is already an antiquated method of interpretation, this Note contends that, in light of Rothe, it is an unworkable one as well.