(CMR) The United States Supreme Court has ruled that colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis for granting admission, a landmark decision overturning affirmative action that has been defended as a measure to increase diversity.
The court ruled that both programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and are, therefore, unlawful. The vote was 6-3 in the UNC case and 6-2 in the Harvard case, in which liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was recused.
In one case, Harvard University was accused of discriminating against Asian Americans in its admissions process, while in another, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was accused of giving preference to Black, Hispanic, and Native American applicants over white and Asian applicants.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the conservative majority, saying the Harvard and University of North Carolina admissions programs violated the Equal Protection Clause because they failed to offer “measurable” objectives to justify the use of race. He said the programs involve racial stereotyping and had no specific endpoint.
However, liberals have not welcomed this ruling, stating that affirmative action is a key tool for remedying historic race discrimination.
“It wasn’t perfect, but there’s no doubt that it helped offer new ladders of opportunity for those who, throughout our history, have too often been denied a chance to show how fast they can climb,” said former first lady Michelle Obama.
US President Joe Biden said he “strongly” disagreed with the court’s decision and that the country would need “a new path forward that is consistent with the law.”
“We cannot let this decision be the last word. Discrimination still exists in America,” he stated.
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