Divided Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action in college admissions, says race can't be used
The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.
The court's conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation's oldest private and public colleges, respectively.
The decision, like last year맥스카지노s momentous abortion ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, marked the realization of a long-sought conservative legal goal, this time finding that race-conscious admissions plans violate the Constitution and a law that applies to colleges that receive federal funding, as almost all do.
Those schools will be forced to reshape their admissions practices, especially top schools that are more likely to consider the race of applicants.
Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long universities have 맥스카지노concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual맥스카지노s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.맥스카지노
Read the court맥스카지노s opinion .
From the White House, President Joe Biden said he 맥스카지노strongly, strongly맥스카지노 disagreed with the court맥스카지노s ruling and urged colleges to seek other routes to diversity rather than let the ruling 맥스카지노be the last word.맥스카지노
Besides the conservative-liberal split, the fight over affirmative action showed the deep gulf between the , each of whom wrote separately and vividly about race in America and where the decision might lead.
Justice Clarence Thomas 맥스카지노 the nation's second Black justice, who had long called for an end to affirmative action 맥스카지노 wrote separately that the decision 맥스카지노sees the universities맥스카지노 admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes.맥스카지노
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the decision 맥스카지노rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.맥스카지노
Both Thomas and Sotomayor, the two justices who have acknowledged affirmative action played a role in their admissions to college and law school, took the unusual step of reading summaries of their opinions aloud in the courtroom.
In a separate dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson 맥스카지노 the court맥스카지노s first Black female justice 맥스카지노 called the decision 맥스카지노truly a tragedy for us all.맥스카지노
Jackson, who sat out the Harvard case because she had been a member of an advisory governing board, wrote, 맥스카지노With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 맥스카지노colorblindness for all맥스카지노 by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.맥스카지노
The vote was 6-3 in the North Carolina case and 6-2 in the Harvard case. Justice Elena Kagan was the other dissenter.
Biden, who quickly stepped before cameras at the White House, said of the nation's colleges: 맥스카지노They should not abandon their commitment to ensure student bodies of diverse backgrounds and experience that reflect all of America,맥스카지노 He said colleges should evaluate 맥스카지노adversity overcome맥스카지노 by candidates.
In fact, an applicant for admission still can write about, and colleges can consider, 맥스카지노how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise,맥스카지노 Roberts wrote.
But the institutions 맥스카지노may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today,맥스카지노 he wrote.
Presidents of many colleges quickly issued statements affirming their commitment to diversity regardless of the court맥스카지노s decision. Many said they were still assessing the impact but would follow federal law.
맥스카지노Harvard will continue to be a vibrant community whose members come from all walks of life, all over the world,맥스카지노 school President Lawrence Bacow said in a statement.
President Reginald DesRoches of Rice University in Houston said he was 맥스카지노greatly disappointed맥스카지노 by the decision but 맥스카지노more resolute than ever맥스카지노 to pursue diversity. 맥스카지노The law may change, but Rice맥스카지노s commitment to diversity will not,맥스카지노 he said in a campus message.
Former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama offered starkly different takes on the high court ruling. The decision marked 맥스카지노a great day for America. People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded," Trump, the current Republican presidential frontrunner, wrote on his social media network.
Obama said in a statement that affirmative action 맥스카지노allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged. Now it맥스카지노s up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve 맥스카지노 and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives.맥스카지노
The Supreme Court had twice upheld in the past 20 years, including as recently as 2016.
But that was before the three appointees of former President Donald Trump joined the court. At arguments in late October, all six conservative justices expressed doubts about the practice, which had been upheld under Supreme Court decisions reaching back to 1978.
Lower courts also had upheld the programs at both UNC and Harvard, rejecting claims that the schools discriminated against white and Asian American applicants.
The college admissions disputes are among several high-profile cases focused on race in America, and were weighed by the conservative-dominated, but most diverse court ever. Among the nine justices are four women, two Black people and a Latina.
The justices earlier in June decided a voting rights case in favor of Black voters in Alabama and rejected a race-based challenge to a Native American child protection law.
The affirmative action cases were brought by conservative activist Edward Blum, who also was behind an earlier affirmative action challenge against the University of Texas as well as the case that led the court in 2013 to end use of a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act.
Blum formed Students for Fair Admissions, which filed the lawsuits against both schools in 2014.
The group argued that the Constitution forbids the use of race in college admissions and called for overturning earlier Supreme Court decisions that said otherwise.
Roberts' opinion effectively did so, both Thomas and the dissenters wrote.
The only institutions of higher education explicitly left out of the ruling are the nation's military academies, Roberts wrote, suggesting that national security interests could affect the legal analysis.
Blum맥스카지노s group had contended that colleges and universities can use other, race-neutral ways to assemble a diverse student body, including by focusing on socioeconomic status and eliminating the preference for children of alumni and major donors.
The schools said that they use race in a limited way, but that eliminating it as a factor altogether would make it much harder to achieve a student body that looks like America.
At the eight Ivy League universities, the number of nonwhite students increased from 27% in 2010 to 35% in 2021, according to federal data. Those men and women include Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander and biracial students.
Nine states already prohibit any consideration of race in admissions to their public colleges and universities. The end of affirmative action in higher education in California, Michigan, Washington state and elsewhere led to a steep drop in minority enrollment in those states맥스카지노 leading public universities.
The other states are: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.
In 2020, California voters easily rejected a ballot measure to bring back affirmative action.
A poll last month by showed 63% of U.S. adults say the court should allow colleges to consider race as part of the admissions process, yet few believe students맥스카지노 race should ultimately play a major role in decisions. A Pew Research Center survey released last week found that half of Americans disapprove of considerations of applicants맥스카지노 race, while a third approve.
The chief justice and Jackson received their undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard. Two other justices, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch, went to law school there, and Kagan was the first woman to serve as the law school맥스카지노s dean.
Every U.S. college and university the justices attended, save one, urged the court to preserve race-conscious admissions.
Those schools 맥스카지노 Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Notre Dame and Holy Cross 맥스카지노 joined briefs in defense of Harvard맥스카지노s and UNC맥스카지노s admissions plans.
Only Justice Amy Coney Barrett맥스카지노s undergraduate alma mater, Rhodes College, in Memphis, Tennessee, was not involved in the cases.
Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.