Supreme Court Overturns Affirmative Actions in College Admissions - Articles

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Supreme Court Overturns Affirmative Actions in College Admissions

Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Jun 29, 2023

The Supreme Court today overturned decades of affirmative action programs used in the admissions process by colleges and universities across the U.S. The Hill reports that the majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, invalidated admissions practices used by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, finding that they did not comply with the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. Roberts wrote, “Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping and lack meaningful end points.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor penned the dissenting opinion, stating that the ruling’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment is “grounded in the illusion that racial inequality was a problem of a different generation. ... Ignoring race will not equalize a society that is racially unequal.”