Affirmative Action Out on College Campuses Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court

The current United States Supreme Court has to be one of the most outrageous and staunchly Republican-leaning bodies in our nation’s history.

- Thera Martin

On Thursday, June 29, 2023, The Supreme Court made a devastating ruling against Affirmative Action. President Joe Biden called on colleges to evaluate "adversity overcome" by applicants after the Supreme Court set new limits on affirmative action programs in cases involving whether public and private colleges and universities can continue to use race as one factor among many in student admissions.

In an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court held that Harvard and UNC's admissions programs violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The vote was 6-3 in the UNC case and 62 in the Harvard case due to the recusal of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson had served on the board of overseers at Harvard, where she earned her undergraduate and law degrees.

President Joe Biden called the decision against Affirmative Action a severe disappointment. Biden said he firmly disagrees with this ruling that overturns decades of precedent, just the latest example, the President said, of this conservative majority Supreme Court overturning precedent. President Biden added that this ruling doesn’t mean that racial discrimination doesn’t exist in this country. He said this shouldn’t end efforts, including by colleges and universities trying to expand opportunities and build out more diverse classes.