Alison Durkee
Forbes, June 29, 2023
“Students “must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race. Many universities have for too long done just the opposite,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion for the court. “And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.””
Colleges and universities can no longer use race as a factor in their admissions decisions, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, striking down the decades-long practice of affirmative action and upending schools’ admission tactics—which they warn could make future student bodies significantly less diverse.
KEY FACTS
The court ruled 6-3 that Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s admissions policies taking race into account are unconstitutional, with the court’s three liberal justices dissenting. Students for Fair Admissions brought two cases against Harvard and UNC—representing private and public universities, respectively—arguing the practice violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause and disadvantaged white and Asian-American applicants. Harvard and UNC had said the practice should be upheld, saying their admissions policies are in line with previous court rulings on the policy and that taking race into account helps to ensure a diverse student body, denying that the practice is discriminatory.
The court ruled affirmative action does violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, saying the universities’ policies aren’t operated in a way that’s in line with the limited exceptions for the clause’s guarantee of equal rights “without regard to any differences of race, of color, or of nationality.”
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