US top court set to throw out race-based college admissions

The Supreme Court on Monday appeared ready to rule that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful, based on questioning over five hours of vigorous and sometimes testy arguments, a move that would overrule decades of precedents.

Such a decision would jeopardise affirmative action at colleges and universities around the nation, particularly elite institutions, decreasing the representation of Black and Latino students and bolstering the number of white and Asian ones.

Questioning from members of the court’s six-justice conservative majority was sharp and skeptical. “I’ve heard the word diversity quite a few times, and I don’t have a clue what it means,” Justice Clarence Thomas said. “It seems to mean everything for everyone.”

If the court does away with affirmative action by the end of its current term, it would represent the second time in the space of a year that its conservative super-majority has jettisoned decades of precedent to overturn a policy that has helped define American life. But as its decision in June eliminating the constitutional right to abortion made plain, members of that majority have not hesitated to take bold steps on divisive issues.

A ruling against the universities would be further evidence of the court’s rightward lurch after President Donald J. Trump’s appointment of three justices, and it could raise fresh questions about whether the court’s approach to precedent threatens the stability of the law and the court’s own legitimacy.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who views himself as the custodian of the court’s independence and authority, may have conflicting impulses in the cases argued Monday. He has long been critical of drawing distinctions based on race. His questions about race-neutral means of achieving diversity suggested that he might be pursuing a characteristically incremental path. 

That approach could limit the sweep of a decision rejecting race-conscious programs.

In general, two themes ran through questions from the court’s conservatives: that educational diversity can be achieved without directly taking account of race and that there must come a time when colleges and universities stop making 

such distinctions.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said “race does correlate to some experiences and not others.”

“If you’re Black,” she said, “you’re more likely to be in an underresourced school. You’re more likely to be taught by teachers who are not as qualified as others. You’re more likely to be viewed as having less academic potential.

A conservative super-majority Supreme Court has heard arguments in two cases that put the fate of affirmative action in higher education into question, imperiling decades of precedent. 

Harvard is accused of discriminating against Asian American students by using a subjective standard to gauge traits like likability, courage and kindness, and effectively creating a ceiling for those students in admissions. 

In the other case, plaintiffs said the University of North Carolina had discriminated against white and Asian applicants by giving preference to Black, Hispanic and Native American ones.
 

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