SUPREME COURT CONSERVATIVES FIND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AT UNIVERSITIES UNCONSTITUTIONAL

By Miriam Raftery

Photos: Demonstrators protest on both sides of the affirmative action issue; cc-nc-nd

June 29,2023 (Washington D.C.)—Public colleges nationwide, as well as private colleges that accept federal funds, can no longer consider race  in the admissions process, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today.

In a 6-3 decision split down ideological lines, the conservative majority found affirmative action to be an unconstitutional violation of the 14^th Amendment, which assures equal protection for all Americans.

The court broke with its own precedent set 45 years ago, when justices found that a limited exception to the 14^th Amendment was acceptable for school admissions to counter the impacts of racial discrimination.

Locally and nationally, the ruling prompted strong reactions.

Southwestern College Superintendent and President Dr. Mark Sanchez sharply criticized the decision. He notes that the results in California passage of Prop 209 banned affirmative statewide in 1996 “should serve as evidence of what could happen across the country now that the Supreme Court has elected to move in this direction.  The systemic inequalities that impact communities of color, such as disparate economic conditions and access to well-resourced schools, continue to persist. This limits access to higher education for students of color despite and not because of the students’ intelligence, capabilities, and abilities to work hard. Therefore, banning affirmative action nationally ignores the systemic inequities that exist in our educational and economic systems in the country,” concluded Dr. Sanchez who notes that Southwestern College is a diverse campus open to all students..

San Diego-based civil rights leader Shane Harris, president of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates says the ruling  “rolls back the clock to a time in this country when campuses were segregated and only accessible to a few. Affirmative Action opened the door for more people to be able to access the nation’s top colleges and universities and furthermore challenges those institutions to ensure that these same minority and low income communities had access.”

But he adds that though the ruling is “a discouragement to many, we will not be deterred from ensuring that civil rights and equality are at the forefront of all public institutions and that nobody in society is left behind because of their race or community of origin.”

President Biden, speaking at the White House, said, “I strongly, strongly disagree with the court’s decision.” Noting that “discrimination still exists in America,” he added that he will be seeking  “a new path forward,” by directing the Education Department to analyze “what practices help build more inclusive and diverse student bodies and what practices hold that back.”

But Donald Trump, former president and current presidential candidate, called today  a “great day for America” due to the high court’s ruling.  He added, “People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded.”

The case to overturn affirmative action was filed by Students for Fair Admissions,Inc., against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public universities.

Chief Justice  Roberts wrote the majority decision, joined by conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, the latter three appointed by Trump.

“Elminating racial discrimination means eliminating all it,” Roberts wrote.  “The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race. Most universities for far too long have done just the opposite.”

The courts three liberal justices disagreed, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing the dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.  Sotomayor observed that society “is not, and has never been color blind.”  She blasted the decision making it more difficult for racial minorities to access higher education needed to pursue higher-tier career opportunities. “The Court ignores the dangerous consequences of an America where its leadership does not reflect the diversity of the People,” wrote Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court justice.

The ruling leaves universities that had utilized affirmative action to now consider other options.  Those might include whether an applicant came from a disadvantaged neighborhood, or as even Justice Roberts noted, “Nothing in this opinion shall 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.”

Justice Sotomayor, however, slammed that approach as “putting lipstick on a pig.”

While Justice Thomas, who is Black, said he cast his vote for a “color blind” Constitution despite being “painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination.”

But Justice Jackson, the first Black woman on the high court, sharply differed with that view.  “With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces `colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat,” she wrote. “But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”

Dozens of other countries utilize affirmative action programs for higher education admissions, a practice that has been growing in recent decades, the Washington Post reports.

Universities attended by all nine  of the Supreme Court Justices argued in favor of allowing affirmative action programs to remain, either as a defendant (Harvard) or in briefs supporting Harvard and UNC’s admissions practices joined by Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Notre Dame and Holy Cross.

Harvard's President Lawrence Bacow issued a statement indicating that despite the ruling, "Harvard willcontinue to be a vibrant community whose memberscome from all walks of life,all over the world."

In handing down its decision, the court’s conservatives also went against public opinion.

 A poll conducted last month by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 63% of adults in the US.responded that the court should allow colleges to consider race as part of their admissions process.

Read the ruling: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/29/us/affirmative-action-decision-document-supreme-court.html