In biggest ruling since abortion, US Supreme Court guts affirmative action at universities

Washington: In the most anticipated ruling since federal abortion rights were overturned in America, the US Supreme Court has curtailed affirmative action, barring elite colleges and universities from considering race in student admissions.

The conservative-dominated court ruled that race-conscious admission programs were unlawful and should no longer be used to accept people from traditionally underrepresented groups, ending a decades-old policy that sought to make higher education more equitable.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusettes Credit: AP

As prestigious institutions began to rethink their selection processes, the decision sparked protests outside the court in Washington, reignited the debate over race in America and raised fears among some employers that they would have a less diverse pipeline of graduates from which to hire in the future.

President Joe Biden said the court had once again “walked away from decades of precedent” and called on colleges not to abandon diversity, noting that students from the top 1 percent of family incomes in America are 77 times more likely to get into an elite college than students from the bottom 20 per cent of family incomes.

At present, colleges can use race as one of many factors in deciding which students to admit from an already-qualified pool of applicants generally chosen based on test scores, grades and other criteria.

“The truth is – and we all know it – discrimination still exists in America,” he said. “If a student has had to overcome adversity on their path education, colleges should recognise that.”

US President Joe Biden has urged colleges not to abandon diversity.Credit: Reuters

Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, meanwhile, joined Republicans in welcoming the decision and noted that “people with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our country, are finally being rewarded.”

Former president Barack Obama also weighed in, saying that affirmative action gave a generation of students like him the chance to “prove we belong”, while former first lady Michelle Obama said: “my heart breaks for any young person out there who’s wondering what their future holds – and what kind of chances will be open to them.”

“So often, we just accept that money, power and privilege are perfectly justifiable forms of affirmative action, while kids growing up like I did are expected to compete when the ground is anything but level,” said the graduate of Harvard Law School and Princeton University.

The historic ruling was based on cases relating to two universities – Harvard and North Carolina – but will reshape entry at private campuses right across the US and likely result in fewer black and Latino students.

The decision came about through a challenge filed by Students for Fair Admission, which argued that the universities’ entry processes discriminate against white and Asian American applicants.

The organisation is headed by Edward Blum, a former stockbroker who has made it his life’s mission to end affirmative action, and has filed countless lawsuits over the years on behalf of students and parents alleging they had been rejected by selective universities based on the policy.

Like last year’s abortion ruling, this decision was split along ideological lines, with the six conservative judges on the nine-member bench voting to gut affirmative action, while the three liberal justices dissented.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion on behalf of the majority, said the programs at Harvard and North Carolina “unavoidably employ race in a negative manner” and “involve racial stereotyping,” in a way that violates the Constitution.

Under the ruling, universities can still consider how racial factors have affected an applicant’s life – for example if a black student submits an essay drawing on their lived experience – but “the student 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. 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 colour of their skin,” Roberts wrote. “Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”

The three dissenters were Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson – the first black woman appointed to the 234-year-old Supreme Court – Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotamayor.

In a fiery dissent, Sotomayor wrote that the conservative decision “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.”

Some colleges have already had to scrap their affirmative action programs, including the University of Michigan, where black undergraduate enrolment dropped significantly after a state ban.

“The devastating impact of this decision cannot be overstated,” said Sotamayor. “The majority’s vision of race neutrality will entrench racial segregation in higher education because racial inequality will persist so long as it is ignored.”

The court’s decision was the latest example of the conservative justices using their dominance to decide on issues that fundamentally reshape Americans’ lives, from gun regulations, voting rules and healthcare.

It comes almost one year to the day since the court overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that gave women the constitutional right to abortion in the US.

Demonstrators for and against the US Supreme Court decision on affirmative action confront each other, in Washington DC.Credit: Reuters

Protesters descended on the court after the decision, although the area had to be evacuated after a suspicious package was found.

One Dominican-Asian student, Elijah Estegec, 21, told his masthead: “I feel this will create an obstacle for minorities and anyone who doesn’t have family members that have already been to college.”

The ruling is expected to embolden right-wing efforts to roll back corporate diversity programs.

“You will see groups like ours looking closely to ensure that employers are not giving race undue influence in decisions about whom to hire or to promote,” Linda Chavez, the chair of righting think tank Centre for Equal Opportunity, told the Washington Post.

Affirmative action policies have been in place in US colleges for decades and have withstood multiple challenges.

As recently as 2016 the court upheld a program at the University of Texas, concluding for the third time that educational diversity justifies the consideration of race as one factor in admissions.

Students Elijah Estegec, left, and David Pacheco protest the Supreme Court ruling.Credit: Farrah Tomazin

In a statement after his organisation won the latest battle on Thursday, Blum said: “Ending racial preferences in college admissions is an outcome that the vast majority of all races and ethnicities will celebrate.”

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