We can learn from the states where affirmative action has already been banned what the Supreme Court’s decision to restrict race as a factor in the college admissions process will mean.
Supreme Court Building
In a long-anticipated decision, the Supreme Court has struck down affirmative action in higher education.
For decades, affirmative action, or race-conscious admissions in higher education, has served as a buffer for structural and passive racism that can occur in the admissions process, especially toward Black and Brown students.
In a 6-3 decision, the conservative-leaning court ruled that Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s admissions programs 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,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the opinion.
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