The US Supreme Court effectively barred universities from using race as a factor in university admissions, marking the start of a new era in higher education and rolling back decades of precedents that had allowed affirmative action programs.
Voting 6-3 along ideological lines, the justices rejected arguments by Harvard College and the University of North Carolina that their admissions programs are warranted to ensure campus diversity. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, saying the programs violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause.
“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 end points,” Roberts wrote. “We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today.”
The ruling could mean fewer Black and Hispanic students at the country’s top universities and force hundreds of schools to revamp their admissions policies. Studies indicate a majority of selective US universities now consider race in admissions, though nine states including California and Florida ban the practice at public institutions.
The high court majority didn’t explicitly say it was overturning a 2003 decision, known as Grutter v. Bollinger, that had reaffirmed the right of universities to consider race as one of many admissions factors. But in a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said that ruling “is, for all intents and purposes, overruled.”
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
“The court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter,” Sotomayor wrote.
Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined Roberts and Thomas in the majority.
Opponents of racial preferences sought to take advantage of a court that has become more conservative since 2003. The universities were fighting lawsuits by Students for Fair Admissions, an anti-preferences organization run by former stockbroker Ed Blum that says its members include unsuccessful applicants to both schools.
The group contended that Harvard penalizes Asian Americans during the admissions process, assigning them lower ratings on leadership and likability, while automatically giving preferences to Black and Hispanic applicants.
Harvard denied those allegations, saying it considers the race only of highly competitive candidates for admission and doesn’t penalize Asian-American applicants.
The Biden administration joined the two universities in defending affirmative action programs, arguing that students of all races benefit from having diverse peers.