Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action in Universities – Liberation

It’s a new 180-degree turn, a new historic step backwards for many progressives, and it’s certainly a very powerful new symbol of the Supreme Court bench, now firmly locked in by American conservatives. A year after ending federal abortion rights, sparking impotent outrage from a majority of Americans, the US Supreme Court on Thursday ended affirmative action programs on universities.

The six conservative judges ruled, against the opinion of the three progressives, that the university admissions procedure with regard to the skin color or ethnic origin of the candidates was unconstitutional.

many universities They wrongly considered that the basis of a person’s identity lay not in tests, skills acquired, or lessons learned, but in the color of his skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate this.Chief (“chief justice”) Justice John Roberts wrote on behalf of the majority. In other words, the student should be treated on the basis of their individual experiences, not on the basis of racial criteria.he adds.

In her dissenting opinion, progressive Justice Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by Barack Obama, insisted on the contrary: “Equal opportunity in education” form “a prerequisite for achieving racial equality in our nation”. Today this court “goes back to decades of jurisprudence and massive progress” and “enshrines an artificial rule of indifference to skin color as a constitutional principle in a deeply segregated society, where the issue of race has always been and will continue to be important to ‘get some'”also confirms.

New talk activist

Many highly selective universities introduced racial and ethnic criteria into their admissions procedures in the late 1960s to correct disparities arising from the racial past of the United States and to increase the proportion of black, Hispanic, or Native American students in their numbers. These policies, known as “affirmative action,” have long been heavily criticized in conservative circles, who view them as vague and consider them “reverse racism.”

It is noteworthy that on several occasions since 1978, the Supreme Court has banned the quota system, but has always allowed universities to take into account, among other things, racial criteria. So far, she ruled “legal” Seek greater diversity on campus, even if it means violating the principle of equality for all American citizens.

Thursday’s ruling, which will force American universities to revise their admissions procedures, found its source in a complaint filed in 2014 against the oldest private and public universities in the United States, Harvard and North Carolina. At the head of an association called Students for Equitable Admissions, neoconservative activist Edward Bloom accused them of discriminating against Asian students. Those with clearly above average academic results, he said, would be more numerous on campus if their performance were the only selection criterion.

After suffering several defeats in court, he turned to the Supreme Court which, ironically, has never been as diverse as it is today with two African American and one Hispanic justices. But the Supreme Court has been deeply overhauled by Donald Trump and now has six out of nine conservative justices, including African-American Justice Clarence Thomas, an advocate for affirmative action programs who nonetheless took advantage of to study at the prestigious Yale University.

“willful ignorance of our reality”

Democratic President Joe Biden’s government has demanded in vain the status quo. “The future of our country depends on its ability to have leaders of diverse profiles, capable of leading an increasingly diverse society.”, endorsed by his representative. In the same vein, large corporations, including Apple, General Motors, Accenture, and Starbucks, have stressed that “A diverse workforce that has improved its performance” And they are “It relies on schools across the country to train its future staff.”

In contrast to the federal right to abortion, which a majority of Americans championed, affirmative action in university access caused further divisions within public opinion. According to a recent study by the Pew Research CenterHalf of Americans say they oppose considering race and ethnicity in college admissions decisions, while a third approve of the practice.

But the survey in question shows large disparities precisely according to racial and ethnic criteria. Majorities of white and Asian adults disapprove of affirmative action, while black Americans overwhelmingly support it, and Hispanics are divided.

In a statement issued minutes after the Supreme Court ruling, the black American rights organization, the NAACP, expressed its dismay: “In a society still scarred by the wounds of racial disparities, the Supreme Court has shown willful ignorance of our reality.”