Supremes End Racial Quotas

In a 6-to-3 decision this morning, the Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action in the admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.  The justices declared that the admissions programs relied too heavily on race alone and negatively impacted other races, specifically Asians.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts declared that race-based considerations violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which ensures that laws are applied equally to every individual without any consideration of race. 

In his opinion, Roberts recounted America’s history of struggling to overcome racial discrimination and the progress we have made.  He referred to a previous splintered Supreme Court decision (Grutter v. Bollinger) by a liberal majority that permitted the consideration of race in college admission programs but only as “a plus.” 

In other words, the use of race had to positively benefit an applicant.  But the Supreme Court found that Harvard was using race negatively to the detriment of Asian applicants.

The Grutter decision also clearly stated the court’s opinion that “race-conscious admissions policies must be limited in time,” and that “the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary” and would eventually end.

In today’s decision, the Supreme Court declared that the time to end race-based programs is now.  Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”

The universities, of course, aren’t happy with today’s ruling. They say it will set back their efforts to achieve diversity on campus.  I’d be far more sympathetic to their cries of “diversity” if we saw any evidence that it also applied to diversity of thought and opinion among their faculty!

This decision also won’t sit well with the neo-Marxist critical race theory hustlers like Ibram X. Kendi.  As you may recall, Kendi wrote, “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.  The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.” 

Kendi is a bad imitation of George Wallace, who infamously declared, “Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow.  Segregation forever.” 

We must reject the bigotry of the left and once again embrace the dream of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.  That’s exactly what my good friend Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion. 

Thomas declared that the universities’ “rudderless, race-based preferences . . . fly in the face of our colorblind Constitution and our Nation’s equality ideal.”  He concluded:

“While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States: that all men are created equal, are equal citizens, and must be treated equally before the law.”

Our ideal must not be Kendi’s “Discrimination today, tomorrow and forever,” but a society where we are judged not on the color of our skin, but on the content of our character.  A society where race is the least important characteristic, not the most important.

This case, once again, highlights the crucial impact of elections on our law and culture.  If Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump, had replaced Justices Scalia, Kennedy and Ginsberg, today’s ruling would have been 6-to-3 in the opposite direction, with Justices Roberts, Thomas and Alito in the minority.