Supreme Court Restricts Race-Based College Admissions

Chris Lisinski

The nation’s highest court on Thursday declared that two major colleges violated the Constitution by considering a student’s race as a factor in admissions, a landmark decision that sent shockwaves through the higher education industry and generated immediate condemnation from many Democrats.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority restricted race-based admissions in a pair of cases related to policies at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina. Those policies, which supporters have long touted as a way to diversify campuses and correct for structural factors that put students of color at a disadvantage compared to their peers, run afoul of the Fourteenth Amendment’s requirement that all Americans be provided equal protection under the law.

“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,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in an opinion for the majority. “This Nation’s constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”

Judges Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — all nominated by Republican presidents — joined Roberts in the majority. The three Democrat-nominated judges — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented in the UNC case. Jackson, who previously served on Harvard’s Board of Overseers, abstained from the Harvard ruling.

Within an hour of the court’s decision becoming public, Gov. Maura Healey’s office rolled out a statement it said was signed by dozens of elected officials, higher education leaders, organized labor representatives and advocacy groups criticizing the ruling.

“We want to make sure that students of color, LGBTQ+ students, first generation students, and all students historically underrepresented in higher education feel welcomed and valued at our colleges and universities,” the statement, also signed by House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka, said. “Today’s decision, while disappointing, will not change our commitment to these students. We have an imperative to make sure our schools reflect our communities. Our academic competitiveness, the future of our workforce, and our commitment to equity demand we take action.”