On Sunday, the Associated Press reported on the current declining trend in African-American lawyers appearing before the Supreme Court. The article suggests several factors that may account for the growing paucity of minority lawyers at the nation’s highest court:

• continuing problems in recruiting and retaining blacks and other minorities at the top law firms;
• the rise of a small group of lawyers who focus on Supreme Court cases;
• the decline in civil rights cases that make it to the high court; and
• the court’s dwindling caseload.

No doubt, the loss of effective affirmative action policies at many law schools will exacerbate this trend.