In a recent groundbreaking ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a decision that marked the end of race-conscious admission programs at colleges and universities across the nation. The court’s six-justice conservative supermajority invalidated admissions procedures at both Harvard and the University of North Carolina, signifying a profound change in higher education policy.
This decision overturned longstanding precedents that have been sustained over several decades by narrow Supreme Court majorities, sometimes including justices appointed by Republican presidents. It terminated the public and private educational institutions' capacity to use race as one of many considerations in determining which eligible applicants should be admitted.