The Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Decision Harms Racial Justice

The Supreme Court ruled that race can no longer be considered as a factor in university admissions last June 29. This prohibits the use of affirmative action policies to raise the number of Black, Hispanic and other minorities.

The conservative justices determined that admissions policies at Harvard University and University of North Carolina violated the US constitution.

There are 9 justices in the Supreme Court, and six of them are conservative leaning. Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman appointed, was one of the justices who dissented. She said the decision was “truly a tragedy for us all”.

In an article by Scientific American, Dominique J. Baker states that the Supreme’s Court decision is one of the latest efforts to erase racism from cultural consciousness. This decision, along with Florida’s Stope WOKE are proof of a larger effort to pretend racism doesn’t exist. There are other bills targeting to ban DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) efforts, like Texas’s Senate Bill 17.

These decisions hurt the progress made in terms of inclusion in education. The race-conscious admissions used at Harvard and UNC, were a tool to advance racial justice, even if it was flawed. The pressure by the Court’s decisions could harm admissions.

Last year, the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v Wade, a ruling that granted women abortion rights.“If the colleges of this country are required to ignore a thing that matters, it will not just go away,” Jackson wrote. “It will take longer for racism to leave us. And, ultimately, ignoring race just makes it matter more.”