June 29, 2023 09:43 AM UTC

SCOTUS Strikes Down Affirmative Action In College Admissions

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser:

“Since the Civil Rights Era, the Supreme Court has consistently held that admission review processes, where race is one of many factors considered in admission decisions, could redress historical discrimination, ensure diverse learning environments, and help to create communities that reflect our highest ideals. Under this decision, the Supreme Court assigns to itself control over admissions decisions. Contrary to its insistence, this decision will harm university learning environments and force them to adopt second best solutions to adapt to this problematic ruling.

“In the face of this decision, we will persist in our pursuit of justice and our commitment to provide equal opportunity for everyone. This means, among other things, that we will work with our higher education institutions to revamp and innovate as to what policies can increase opportunities on campus. I remain committed to providing opportunities for all Coloradans to pursue the American Dream.”

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UPDATE: Statement from Sen. John Hickenlooper:

Affirmative action helps ensure students from all backgrounds have a fair opportunity at quality education. This is a devastating ruling for America.

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The Washington Post’s Robert Barnes reports the news from the U.S. Supreme Court today that will dominate headlines going into the long holiday weekend:

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that relied in part on racial considerations, saying they violate the Constitution…

[Chief Justice John] Roberts said the admissions programs at Harvard and UNC “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.”

The dissenting side of this momentous 6-3 decision reads like a eulogy:

In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said: “Equal educational opportunity is a prerequisite to achieving racial equality in our Nation.”

“Today, this Court stands in the way and rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress. It holds that race can no longer be used in a limited way in college admissions to achieve such critical benefits. In so holding, 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.” [Pols emphasis]

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson added in her dissent:

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

One of the first local responses to this morning’s decision comes from Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver:

In ending affirmative action at America’s universities, the Supreme Court just dealt another devastating blow to the progress we, as a country, have made.

This is a shameful decision that significantly rolls back the clock in our fight to ensure true equality for all Americans.

— Rep. Diana DeGette (@RepDianaDeGette) June 29, 2023

We’ll be watching for responses from other elected officials as well as higher ed leaders in Colorado to see how this decision affects admissions programs at our local universities. Studies have consistently shown that rescinding affirmative action policies benefits white students at the expense of the minority populations the policy was intended to help. That’s the direction we just chose as a country.

All we can say for today is the worst fears in 2014 for what Cory Gardner’s Supreme Court would do to the country have now mostly come true.