Conservative presidents and Congresses never actually abolished affirmative action despite opposing rhetoric

Evidence

Thus affirmative action was encouraged, or at least not halted, by both conservative Republican presidents (Nixon, Reagan, Bush) and liberal Democratic ones (Johnson, Carter, Clinton). Federal laws and executive orders to foster or mandate affirmative action could have been reversed, but were not, when both houses of Congress were controlled by Republicans (or by Democrats); they could have been declared unconstitutional, but were not, when the Supreme Court was dominated by either liberal or conservative activists. The historical record is one of growth and persistence, with considerable trimming (especially of business set-asides) and usually more lip service than effort - but without rejection of its core mission - at the federal level (Rice and Mongkuo, 1998; Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 1997:2; Anderson, 1996). Thus with a few exceptions, conservative opponents have not fought hard to eliminate affirmative action when they might have succeeded; that is the first suggestion of a gap between rhetoric and practice among policy actors and advocates purportedly on the same side of the issue. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1972

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The gap between anti-affirmative-action rhetoric and actual legislative practice across both parties is a genuinely non-obvious, counterintuitive finding that complicates the standard political narrative.