U.S. Supreme Court Rejects 'Affirmative Action' in University Admissions

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down racial quotas at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, effectively banning affirmative action policies that have long been used to increase the number of Black, Hispanic, and other minority students in American universities. In a controversial decision that will force many colleges and universities to reevaluate their admissions policies, the justices ruled that such quotas, which consider the race of applicants as was done at Harvard and UNC, violate the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause. The court ruled in favor of a group called 'Students for Fair Admissions,' founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, with support from conservative justices and opposition from liberal justices. According to Harvard, about 40% of colleges and universities in the U.S. consider race in their admissions processes. Blum's group accused UNC of discriminating against white and Asian American applicants and Harvard of bias against Asian American applicants in lawsuits filed in 2014. In the case of UNC, six Supreme Court justices ruled against the university while three ruled in its favor, and the vote regarding Harvard was also six to two. President Joe Biden expressed strong opposition to Thursday's ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, and urged colleges to maintain their commitment to diverse student enrollment. Justice Roberts wrote that a student 'should be treated based on their experiences as an individual and not based on their race. Many universities have long done exactly the opposite. And in doing so, they have mistakenly concluded that the measure of a person's identity is not the challenges, skills, or lessons learned, but rather the color of their skin. Our Constitution does not tolerate this choice.' Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court, wrote that this decision 'denies' the constitutional guarantee of equal protection and will lead to greater racial inequality in the education system. According to Reuters, military academies are exempt from Thursday's ruling, and Justice Roberts emphasized the distinct potential benefits of military academies, noting that race-based admissions in this context were not reviewed. Harvard officials stated they would 'determine how to uphold their core values in light of the court's new ruling.' The president of the University of North Carolina also committed to 'comply with the law.'