Supreme Court rejects affirmative action on college admissions, saying race cannot be a factor
Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote dissentingly that the decision “undoes decades of precedent and significant advances.”
(J. Scott Applewhite | AP File Photo) Activists demonstrate as the Supreme Court hears hearings on two cases that could decide the future of affirmative action in college admissions, in Washington October 31, 2022. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday, June 29, 2023 that colleges and universities must stop considering race issues in admissions, forcing colleges to look for new ways to reach a diverse student body. By a 6-3 decision, the court rejected the admissions plans of Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively.
washington • The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected affirmative action on college admissions, forcing colleges to look for new ways to reach a diverse student body.
The court’s conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively.
Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long universities have “wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not the challenges met, the skills acquired, or the knowledge gained, but the color of his skin.” Our Constitutional History does not condone this election.”
Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote dissentingly that the decision “undoes decades of precedent and significant advances.”
In another dissent, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson — the court’s first black judge — called the decision “truly a tragedy for all of us.”
The Supreme Court has twice upheld racially aware college admissions programs in the past 20 years, including as recently as 2016.
But that was before the three people appointed by former President Donald Trump joined the court. In a standoff in late October, all six Conservative justices expressed doubts about the practice, which had been perpetuated by 1978 Supreme Court decisions.
Lower courts had also upheld the programs at both UNC and Harvard University, dismissing claims that the schools discriminated against white and Asian American applicants.
