The US Supreme Court handed down a ruling prohibiting the use of race and ethnicity in university admissions, marking a significant setback for affirmative action policies aimed at increasing educational opportunities for minorities; the decision was applauded by conservatives but criticized by progressives.
The US Supreme Court on Thursday banned the use of race and ethnicity in university admissions, dealing a significant blow to a decades-old practice that boosted educational opportunities for African-Americans and other minorities.
One year after overturning the guarantee of a woman’s right to abortion, the court’s conservative majority again demonstrated its readiness to scrap liberal legal policies since the 1960s.
The ruling against “affirmative action,” delivered by a court heavily influenced by three justices appointed by Donald Trump during his presidency, drew cheers from conservatives but was blasted by progressives.
President Joe Biden expressed his “severe disappointment” and criticized the justices as “not a normal court.”
“Discrimination still exists in America,” he said at the White House. “I believe our colleges are stronger when they are racially diverse.”
However, in an interview with MSNBC, he pushed back on liberal demands to reorganize the powerful Supreme Court by adding to the nine justices, all of whom serve lifetime appointments.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that while affirmative action was “well-intentioned,” it could not last forever and amounted to unconstitutional discrimination against others.
The court said that universities were free to consider an applicant’s background, whether, for example, they grew up experiencing racism, in weighing their application over more academically qualified students.
But deciding primarily based on whether the applicant is white, Black, or other is racial discrimination, Roberts wrote.
Elite universities
The court sided with an activist group, Students for Fair Admissions, that sued the country’s oldest private and public higher education institutions, Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC), over their admissions policies.
The group claimed that race-conscious admissions policies discriminated against Asian Americans competing to enter the two universities.
Harvard and UNC, like several other competitive US schools, consider an applicant’s race or ethnicity as a factor to ensure a diverse student body and representation of minorities.
Affirmative action policies arose from the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, aiming to help address the legacy of discrimination against African Americans.
Some conservatives argue that the policy has outlived its need due to significant gains by Black people and other minoritie
The affirmative action ruling could have the same effect on many states and institutions, halting programs designed to give disadvantaged minorities extra consideration in the competitive admissions process.
Miroslava Salazar with AFP
