The Supreme Court just gutted the use of affirmative action programs in both private colleges and public universities.
Here’s What Happened
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down race-conscious student admissions programs in a sharp setback to affirmative action policies often used to increase the number of Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented minority groups on campuses.
The ruling will force colleges to reimagine long-standing hallmarks of the admissions process and some feel it will jeopardize the representation of Black and Latino students on campuses nationwide.
The decision restricts how universities can consider race in their admissions process
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the admissions processes at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, both of which give a little extra weight to applicants from certain ethnic groups.
Many universities have argued that race-based admissions ensures that student bodies remain diverse, while critics such as the plaintiffs in the cases argue the policy discriminates against many qualified students based on race.
“The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual — not on the basis of race,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote. “Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”
The court has historically backed affirmative action programs at colleges, including most recently in 2016, when the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas-Austin.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recused herself from the Harvard case due to her previous role on Harvard’s Board of Overseers.
The justices deciding whether affirmative action recognizes and nourishes a multicultural nation, or impermissibly divides Americans by race, represent the most diverse Supreme Court in history.
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