TheQuartering [6/29/2023]
The US Supreme Court struck down decades of legal precedent that allowed colleges and universities to consider race as a factor in admissions.
The court on Thursday specifically ruled against race-conscious student admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
Those programs “violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the 6-3 majority ruling in both cases, Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina.
Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissented in both cases, with Jackson, a Harvard Law alumna, having recused from voting on the case involving the college.
Dozens of major corporations across various industries took interest in the case, including Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), General Motors (GM), General Dynamics (GD), Dell, and Starbucks (SBUX).
Those companies and nearly 40 others joined in an amicus brief contending that diversity in higher education ultimately helps their businesses by providing a diverse pool from which they can recruit.
The supporters went on to argue that doing away with the policy would also weaken the military’s pool of eligible college-trained recruits.
The decisionsoverhaul a string of Supreme Court cases that address the role of race in institutionalized education, starting with the high court’s landmark 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. In Brown the court outlawed race-based segregation in public schools.
The court acknowledged that its prior rulings permitted race-based admissions, saying it did so only “within the confines of narrow restrictions.”