The Supreme Court Effectively Ends Affirmative Action Because Of Course They Did

A ruling was made today that colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific data point in admissions. Ending what is commonly known as affirmative action.

Here are the facts you should know:

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the conservative majority, claiming that the programs relied on racial stereotypes with no end point in sight, but noted that how race has affected an applicant’s life could still be considered.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, issued a dissent, noting that the opinion “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.” Justices read their dissents aloud from the bench for the first time since 2019, a demonstration that adds gravity to the historic moment.

There are *some* exceptions.

US military service academies can continue to take race into consideration for applicants. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar pointed out that “race-based admissions programs further the nation’s compelling interest of diversity,” according to CNN.

The GOP is having a field day with this.

Ted Cruz called today, “a great day for all Americans,” a sentiment he shares with Donald Trump who called it a “great day for Americans.”

The predictions are grim.

National director of the NAACP Youth & College Division Wisdom Cole, called today’s ruling a dark day in America in a statement, writing, “Affirmative action has been a beacon of hope for generations of Black students. It stood as a powerful force against the insidious poison of racism and sexism, aiming to level the playing field and provide a fair shot at a high-quality education for all. Students across the country are wide-awake to the clear and present danger encroaching on their classrooms.”

A study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce revealed the unsurprising fact that without race-conscious admissions, colleges and universities are far less likely to meet or exceed their current levels of racial diversity. On top of that, they are also less likely to reflect the racial makeup of the population graduating from the nation’s high schools.

According to CNN, Zack Mabel, a researcher for Georgetown’s Center for Education and the Workforce, predicts the number of Black and Brown students admitted into selective colleges will drop from 20% to 16%, adding that race-neutral practices have not yielded increased levels of diversity.

If this news brings that moody, will-we-ever-get-out-of-this-rain cloud as it does for me, try to find comfort in the dissent written by Justice Ketanji Jackson Brown. She puts all of our feelings into words and offers some reassurance that at least some people in power *get it.* Read her statement in full here.