Said Richard Thompson Ford, a Stanford Law School professor who is an expert on race relations and discrimination, “affirmative action has always been controversial and many voters oppose it.” Speaking to The Bee before the Supreme Court released its decision, Ford said the U.S. Constitution allowed “affirmative action under limited circumstances, but it has never required it. As such, states — as well as private institutions — have already been free to choose whether or not to use affirmative action. Ford said that “post-election surveys showed that many voters thought repealing Prop. 209 would also repeal basic anti-discrimination protections. This is incorrect and the misperception might have made the difference.”