On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that colleges can no longer use an applicants’ race to make admissions decisions.
In a case challenging the race-based admissions policies of Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the Supreme Court ruled that using race as a factor in college admissions decisions violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
The decision is a win for Asian-American college applicants, in particular, who have been discriminated against based on their race, in order for schools to give preference to other minorities to meet diversity quotas.
While colleges may not use admissions decisions in order to achieve racial numerical goals, they may base their decisions on students’ stories of racism in their applications – providing incentive for applicants to focus their narratives in order to claim victimhood status.
Thus, students who write about their perceived life “struggles,” such as racial discrimination and financial hardship, can gain preference.
As Justice John Roberts explains in his Opinion of the Court:
“At the same time, as all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”
Colleges may still consider an applicants' personal narrative, just not his race, Roberts writes:
“A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student’s courage and determination. Or a benefit to a student whose heritage or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied to that student’s unique ability to contribute to the university. In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race.”
The landmark decision reverses a previous ruling made 19 years earlier supporting affirmative action. One argument for reversal is that the practice of affirmative action had no target end, but had endured despite strides made in equal opportunity over the years - and that race-based discrimination to combat discrimination is, in itself, a practice in discrimination.
“Great to see the Supreme Court tell Harvard to stop being racist. So long, affirmative action,” Media Research Center President Brent Bozell tweeted in reaction to the ruling.
Constitutional scholar and Fox News Host Mark Levin also praised the ruling, while excoriating liberal media and Democrats for their unhinged attacks on a decision that “outlawed blatant racism in admissions practices”:
“In an excellent decision, the Court by 6-3 outlawed blatant racism in admissions practices. In the case it decided, Asian Americans we being targeted for racist treatment by Harvard based on stereotypes about their personalities. George Wallace would’ve been proud of Harvard. He’d also be proud of the 3 radical leftwing activists on the Court who voted for racism. Meanwhile, the corrupt Democrat Party media are on the warpath, claiming the re-segregation of colleges that is being practiced at Harvard and elsewhere is actually discrimination.“
The decision applies to both public and private universities and is based on a 6-3 vote in the University of North Carolina case and 6-2 (with one recusal) vote in the Harvard case.