The Supreme Court on Thursday outlawed consideration of race as a factor in college admissions, finding that programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

What You Need To Know

  • The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, striking down decades of precedent and no doubt transforming the way that academic institutions attract diverse student populations nationwide

  • The high court found that admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment

  • The 6-3 ruling was split along the high court's ideological fault lines, with liberal Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting

  • Recent polls show eroding support for affirmative action; A recent Pew Research Center poll shows that 50% of Americans disapprove of colleges considering race and ethnicity in admissions, and a CBS News/YouGov poll from mid-June found an overwhelming 70% think colleges should not be allowed to consider race in college admissions

"Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion for the court.

"Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise," Roberts wrote. "But, despite the dissent's assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today."

The case, brought by conservative group Students for Fair Admissions, argued that admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina discriminated against white and Asian American applicants. 

"Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points," Roberts wrote. "We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today."

In separate statements, both educational institutions said that they would abide by the ruling.

"Carolina remains firmly committed to bringing together talented students with different perspectives and life experiences and continues to make an affordable, high-quality education accessible to the people of North Carolina and beyond," said UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz. "While not the outcome we hoped for, we will carefully review the Supreme Court’s decision and take any steps necessary to comply with the law."

"For almost a decade, Harvard has vigorously defended an admissions system that, as two federal courts ruled, fully complied with longstanding precedent," the Harvard statement reads. "In the weeks and months ahead, drawing on the talent and expertise of our Harvard community, we will determine how to preserve, consistent with the Court’s new precedent, our essential values.

"The heart of our extraordinary institution is its people. Harvard will continue to be a vibrant community whose members come from all walks of life, all over the world," the statement continues. "To our students, faculty, staff, researchers, and alumni—past, present, and future—who call Harvard your home, please know that you are, and always will be, Harvard. Your remarkable contributions to our community and the world drive Harvard’s distinction. Nothing today has changed that."

The high court's ruling strikes down decades of precedent and will no doubt transform the way that academic institutions attract diverse student populations nationwide.

"Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin," the ruling reads. "This Nation’s constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."

"The Court has permitted race based college admissions only within the confines of narrow restrictions: such admissions programs must comply with strict scrutiny, may never use race as a stereotype or negative, and must—at some point—end," the ruling from the court reads.

The 6-3 ruling was split along the high court's ideological fault lines, with liberal Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting. 

Sotomayor, in a fiery dissent, said that the ruling is "indefensible" and "not grounded in law or fact."

"Ignoring race will not equalize a society that is racially unequal. What was true in the 1860s, and again in 1954, is true today: Equality requires acknowledgment of inequality," she wrote, adding: "The result of today’s decision is that a person’s skin color may play a role in assessing individualized suspicion, but it cannot play a role in assessing that person’s individualized contributions to a diverse learning environment. That indefensible reading of the Constitution is not grounded in law and subverts the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection."

"At bottom, the six unelected members of today’s majority upend the status quo based on their policy preferences about what race in America should be like, but is not, and their preferences for a veneer of colorblindness in a society where race has always mattered and continues to matter in fact and in law," she added.

In a separate dissent, Justice Jackson called the ruling "truly a tragedy for us all."

"With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces "colorblindness for all' by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life," she wrote.

The ruling elicited reaction split along partisan lines, with Republicans cheering the decision and Democrats lamenting it.

In remarks at the White House on Thursday, President Joe Biden said that he "strongly" disagrees with the ruling.

"I believe our colleges are stronger when they're racially diverse," Biden said. "We cannot let this decision be the last word. We cannot change what America stands for."

But his 2020 opponent and likely chief rival in 2024, former President Donald Trump, called Thursday "a great day for America."

“People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded,” Trump, who helped shape the high court's 6-3 conservative majority, posted on his social media platform. “Our greatest minds must be cherished and that’s what this wonderful day has brought. We’re going back to all merit-based—and that’s the way it should be!”

Recent polls show eroding support for affirmative action.

A recent Pew Research Center poll shows that 50% of Americans disapprove of colleges considering race and ethnicity in admissions, though support is higher among Black Americans (47%) and Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (54%). Just 29% of white Americans and Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (14%) support race-based admission practices.

A CBS News/YouGov poll from mid-June shows similar findings, with 53% of Americans saying affirmative action programs should continue while 47% say they should be abolished. But an overwhelming 70% of those polled in that survey think colleges should not allow race to be a factor in college admissions.