BLIND AS A BAT

Supreme Court Gives Icy Reception to Affirmative Action in Major College Cases

The Supreme Court heard two cases on Monday about the consideration of race in college admissions. The consequences could be massive.

After almost five hours of oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Monday, conservative justices seemed ready to take an ax to the consideration of race in college admissions in America. The supermajority—powered by three appointees of Donald Trump—expressed icy skepticism about whether affirmative action is needed at all as they dug into cases centering on Harvard College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Students For Fair Admissions, the group that filed both lawsuits and lost in lower courts before appealing to the Supreme Court, claims the consideration of race in the admissions process amounts to unlawful racial discrimination. But banning the use of race consideration will mean enrollment by people of color will drastically lessen, according to the Washington Post, and the Supreme Court has previously held race can be a factor as long as it is not an inappropriately predominant one in determining admission. Colleges—backed by plenty of social science evidence—argue diversity is a boon to their campuses. But a court that seems to relish trumpeting in conservative grievance did not appear to be swayed.