The End of Affirmative Action

The current Supreme Court has been out of step with public opinion in some of its highest-profile rulings, including on abortion and environmental protection. Yesterday’s ruling restricting race-based affirmative action at colleges and universities was different.

In a 6-3 decision, the court’s six conservative justices declared that colleges’ use of race as a factor in student admissions is unconstitutional. They cited the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits discrimination based on race.

Their ruling appears to align with public opinion. Most Americans oppose the consideration of race or ethnicity in college admissions, surveys have found. Even in liberal California, the public has voted twice to prohibit affirmative action. (Americans’ opinions can shift somewhat depending on how the survey question is framed.)

The public’s views could make it difficult for Democrats to rally Americans in support of affirmative action as they have with abortion rights since the court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Still, Democrats quickly condemned the affirmative action ruling. “We cannot let this decision be the last word,” President Biden said yesterday.

Whatever the political outcome, the decision upended decades of law and the higher education landscape. The ruling will shift the makeup of many of America’s top universities — and the prospects of students who want to attend them.