On Thursday, June 29th, 2023, the Supreme Court struck down Affirmative Action in college admissions. The practice of race-based admissions was ruled unconstitutional in a 6-3 decision. All six conservative justices voted against affirmative action while the three liberal justices voted for it. The ruling centered on two cases challenging the role of race-based admissions in college, one at Harvard and the other at the University of North Carolina.
The core issue is that affirmative action created an environment where racial discrimination became necessary. High-level programs and Ivy League institutions are notoriously selective due to limited class sizes and the intensity of the curriculum. Black and Hispanic students, on average, perform worse academically than white and Asian students. So, the strict requirements for black and Hispanic students were simply lowered due to their race in order to gain them admission into high-level programs. This means that white and Asian students with superior academic performances had to get removed from the equation with what ultimately became race-based discrimination. This practice is unconstitutional and the recent Supreme Court decision validates that.
SOURCES:
Supreme Court Rejects Affirmative Action at Harvard and UNC: Live Updates – The New York Times
Supreme Court rejects affirmative action in ruling on universities using race in admissions decisions | Fox News
Supreme Court Rules Against Affirmative Action – WSJ
Supreme Court rejects affirmative action at colleges as unconstitutional
Supreme Court ruling affirmative action: Race can’t be a factor
Supreme Court strikes down college affirmative action programs
