Supreme Court’s Racial Case Is Already Having a Rough Ride
(NewsReady.com) – Affirmative action was intended to erase racial disparities in workplaces and institutions of higher learning. Some argue it has created a new level of unfairness at the college level. Now, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is set to weigh in.
On Monday, October 31, the SCOTUS heard oral arguments in two cases related to affirmative action. In both cases, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina (UNC), an activist group is arguing the schools’ admissions policies discriminate against other races of students, specifically Asian Americans. They argue it’s a violation of the Civil Rights Act at Harvard and the 14th Amendment at UNC.
Today at SCOTUS: Will affirmative action remain legal under the 14th Amendment and federal civil rights law? The court will hear arguments on that question in a pair of challenges to the admissions policies at UNC & Harvard. @AHoweBlogger has our preview: https://t.co/KAoM03L1Nn
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) October 31, 2022
Conservative justices on the court seemed skeptical about the need for race-based college admissions in 2022. Fox News reported Justice Clarence Thomas, a black man, asked North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park to explain the benefits of using race in the process. The attorney claimed, “racially diverse groups of people … perform at a higher level.” Thomas didn’t seem to buy the argument, telling him that he’d heard “similar arguments in favor of segregation, too.”
Experts believe the justices will likely rule to reverse the court’s previous precedent related to affirmative action, which would gut the policy. The decisions will likely come down next spring or summer. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has recused herself from the Harvard case because she served on the school’s board.
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