Supreme Court Strikes Down Affirmative Action In College Admissions

The Supreme Court Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, the conservative majority calling the use of race a violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantee and forcing universities to find other ways to achieve diverse student bodies.

President Biden joined the Court’s three liberal justices in criticizing the decision as one that ignores precedent and will roll backs decades of progress.

This is not the first time the issue of race-conscious admissions has come before the court; previous rulings allowed racial screening to continue, in the interest of achieving racial diversity, but only as a sort of bonus factor and also with the understanding that, once diversity is achieved, the practice must end.

In duel rulings — 6-3 in the case against the University of North Carolina and 6-2 in the case against Harvard (Justice Jackson recused) — the conservative justices said the schools had exceeded the narrow scope of allowed exceptions to Equal Protection Clause. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said, “Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded 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.”

The ruling was greeted with small, but vocal protests outside the Court. President Biden also weighed in:

"Today, the Court once again walked away from decades of precedent,” Biden told reporters at the White House, “and I strongly strongly disagree with the court's decision."

Writing one of the dissenting opinions in the UNC case, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the decision is a “tragedy for us all.”

“With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat,” wrote Jackson. “But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”

Oklahoma banned the use of race in college admissions a decade ago, and its congressional delegation stands solidly behind Thursday’s decision.

"Glad to see the U.S. Supreme Court strike down affirmative action as unconstitutional," said Markwayne Mullin in a statement. "College admissions must be decided on equal standards of merit and achievement; not "race-based preferences," as Justice Thomas notes in his concurrence."

Other members of the delegation also provided News9/Newson6 with statements:

“Students who work hard, take advanced courses and receive exceptional grades and test scores in high school should not be disqualified from any higher education institution or receive less monetary assistance based on their race. I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.”

               -Congressman Tom Cole, (R-OK4)

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a massive win for anybody that believes in what MLK preached almost 60 years ago when he said ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ Oklahoma was ahead of the curve when our state banned affirmative action 11 years ago. Glad to see the Supreme Court get this right.”

        -Congressman Josh Brecheen. (R-OK2)

“We are all equal under the eyes of the law, and today the Supreme Court reaffirmed what we all know to be true of the 14th Amendment. Admission practices that reject student applications on the basis of race violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and were rightly struck down by the Supreme Court. We are the greatest nation on earth—we should not use race to determine who is worthy of attending certain universities and who is not.” 

               -Senator James Lankford (R-OK)

The end of June typically marks the end of the term for the Court, but there are still several cases outstanding, including the fate of President Biden's controversial student debt forgiveness program. That opinion could come down Friday.