{"id":11197,"date":"2023-07-15T13:17:26","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T13:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11197"},"modified":"2023-07-15T13:17:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T13:17:26","slug":"most-americans-wanted-the-supreme-court-to-end-affirmative-action-kind-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11197","title":{"rendered":"Most Americans Wanted The Supreme Court To End Affirmative Action \u2014 Kind Of"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“In a ruling on two related cases on Thursday written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court just ended affirmative action in higher education as we know it<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two cases \u2014 Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina \u2014 both argued that the use of race in college admissions should end, but for slightly different reasons. In the Harvard case, the plaintiffs claimed that the admissions practices of Harvard discriminated against Asian American applicants<\/a> by placing a cap on the number admitted. In the North Carolina case, the plaintiffs asked the court to rule that universities can\u2019t use race as a factor in college admissions<\/a> and must use a race-neutral approach, which they argued can achieve student-body diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court \u2014 with the six Republican-appointed justices on one side and the three Democratic-appointed justices on the other \u2014 agreed that Harvard\u2019s practices resulted in fewer Asian American applicants being admitted. And they found that the practices of both colleges violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Roberts echoed earlier rulings where he and other conservative justices stressed that the Constitution requires a colorblind reading, making any<\/em> consideration of race wrong.  \u201cEliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The justices in the minority did not accept that interpretation \u2014 to put it mildly. In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson excoriated the court for failing to address the \u201cgulf-sized race-based gaps\u201d in American life, and criticized the idea that using race as a factor in holistic admissions is unfair. \u201cThis contention blinks both history and reality in ways too numerous to count.\u201d she wrote. \u201cBut the response is simple: Our country has never been colorblind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And although it\u2019s a quiet \u2014 not explicit, but functional \u2014 reversal of more than 50 years of precedent, this decision might actually be popular. A poll designed to capture public opinion<\/a> on major Supreme Court decisions this term found that strong majorities of Americans agree that public (74 percent) and private (69 percent) colleges and universities should not<\/em> be able to use race as a factor in college admissions. Questions that remind respondents of the goal of affirmative action \u2014 to increase the numbers of Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented students on elite campuses \u2014 tend to generate more support<\/a>. But people also don\u2019t think minority groups should be given \u201cspecial preferences.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Most Americans Wanted The Supreme Court To End Affirmative Action \u2014 Kind Of<\/a><\/blockquote>