As expected, the US Supreme Court today ended affirmative action. From Inside Higher Ed:
The U.S. Supreme Court declared Thursday that the admissions systems used by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill illegally violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. “Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful endpoints. We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today,” said the decision, by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
“At the same time, as all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise,” the decision added. “But despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today.”
The decision was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent and was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, although Jackson did not participate in the Harvard case. She recused herself because of her service on a Harvard board, prior to joining the Supreme Court, that discussed the case.
The decision is expected to impact every college that uses affirmative action in admissions and some that use it in awarding financial aid. The decision, the concurring opinions and the dissents total 237 pages.
Edward Blum, the founder and president of Students for Fair Admissions, which brought the suits, said in a statement: “The opinion issued today by the United States Supreme Court marks the beginning of the restoration of the colorblind legal covenant that binds together our multi-racial, multi-ethnic nation. The polarizing, stigmatizing and unfair jurisprudence that allowed colleges and universities to use a student’s race and ethnicity as a factor to admit or reject them has been overruled. These discriminatory admission practices undermined the integrity of our country’s civil rights laws." He added: “Ending racial preferences in college admissions is an outcome that the vast majority of all races and ethnicities will celebrate. A university doesn’t have real diversity when it simply assembles students who look different but come from similar backgrounds and act, talk, and think alike."
Many colleges expressed disappointment with the decision.
Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz of UNC-Chapel Hill, said: “Carolina remains firmly committed to bringing together talented students with different perspectives and life experiences and continues to make an affordable, high-quality education accessible to the people of North Carolina and beyond. While not the outcome we hoped for, we will carefully review the Supreme Court’s decision and take any steps necessary to comply with the law.” ...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/2023/06/25/supreme-court-rules-against-affirmative-action.
In principle, because of Prop 209 - which bans affirmative action in California - UC admissions practices should not be immediately affected. One can imagine, however, future cases being brought challenging UC practices given the sentence above: “But despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today.” Of course, such a challenge could have been made under Prop 209, but it would have been a state court matter until today. Now a federal challenge would also be possible. It could be full employment for lawyers.
The actual Supreme Court decision is at:
It would be surprising if there was no discussion of this issue at the upcoming July Regents meeting.
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