The 2009 ACS National Convention included the panel "Race and the Law in the Wake of the 2008 Election," featuring Debo Adegbile, Director of Litigation, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Terrance D. Carroll, Speaker of the House, Colorado General Assembly; Vanita Gupta, Staff Attorney, Racial Justice Program, American Civil Liberties Union; and Michael Rosman, General Counsel, The Center for Individual Rights. The panel was moderated by Sherrilyn Ifill, Professor of Law at the University of Maryland. 

"2008 may just have been a pivotal moment in an gathering transition on many fronts," said Ifill. "But certainly something has shifted. In fact, a number of things have shifted that do and will effect how race and racism are understood, framed and addressed in the law whether we're talking about litigation, legislation, regulation or legal policy."

Professor Ifill also recently contributed to the ACSblog symposium "Experts on Ricci," where she highlighted the Supreme Court's "new standard to determine whether a prima facie case of Title VII violation is sufficient to support a municipal employer's race conscious, but otherwise facially neutral employment decision," while also noting that "the Court [went] much further. It takes the extraordinary step of determining itself that there is 'not a strong basis in evidence' in this case to justify the City of New Haven's actions.'