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The Harvard case headed to SCOTUS is not about college admissions. It’s about white supremacy [1]

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Date: 2022-10-19

Quoting a Supreme Court brief from 2007 that challenged school districts’ race-conscious attendance policy under the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment, the group highlighted that "no state has any authority … to use race as a factor in affording educational opportunities among its citizens."

But the difference between what Brown established and what the plaintiffs are challenging today is vast. Brown found that segregated schools were inherently different from those available to white students, and that Black children weren’t been treated the same as their white counterparts. Also, what the plaintiffs are challenging is antithetical to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which expands protections for citizens granted by the Bill of Rights, specifically Black Americans, after the abolition of slavery and the end of the Civil War.

A brief from Harvard this summer to the Supreme Court said: "No equivalence can sincerely be drawn between the segregation Brown rightly condemned and a university’s limited consideration of race … to assemble a diverse class.”

USA TODAY reports that arguments for the cases against Harvard and UNC are set to take place on Oct. 31. UNC is a public university, and therefore the case directly applies to the 14th Amendment. Harvard challenges Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which reads that “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

David Hinojosa, an attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, will argue at the high court on behalf of a number of students and alumni at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Hinojosa told USA TODAY, “Brown never said that the equal protection clause is colorblind. […] It was a categorical exclusion of Black children from all-white schools, and that has nothing to do with race-conscious admissions."

The Students for Fair Admissions argues that the 14th Amendment was never designed to give preference to anyone based on race, and that admissions decisions at Harvard somehow exclude Asian American students and give Black students an unfair advantage. This view, sadly, is supported by current conservative members of the high court and is a frequent talking point of far-right commentators who allege that Democratic policies are racist.

"Race-based government measures during the 1860s and 1870s to remedy state-enforced slavery were therefore not inconsistent with the color-blind Constitution," Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the 2007 decision.

Although Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recused herself from the Harvard suit because she previously served on the university’s board of overseers, she will hear the UNC case. But during oral arguments, USA TODAY reports, Jackson unequivocally denied the idea that the 14th Amendment meant a colorblind Constitution.

"I don't think that the historical record establishes that the founders believed that race neutrality or race blindness was required," Jackson said.

You can listen to Justice Brown’s full comments on the 14th Amendment here:

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/19/2129953/-Extremist-packed-SCOTUS-gets-chance-to-demolish-affirmative-action-14th-Amendment-this-month

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