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Affirmative Action is Under Threat [1]

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Date: 2022-10-26

The Supreme Court will soon hear two cases that could lead to the dismantling of affirmative action in college and university admissions: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (Docket 20–1199) and SFFA. v. University of North Carolina (Docket 21-707). The first case involves an accusation that Harvard’s undergraduate admission’s process discriminates against Asian Americans. The second case involves the allegation that the socioeconomic factors the University of North Carolina (UNC) considers in its admission’s process involve race and go against Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlaws racial discrimination. The two cases ask the Supreme Court to review Grutter v Bollinger (2003), which found that affirmative action in college admissions was constitutional, so long as race is not the sole factor considered.

Both universities receive federal funding, and are, therefore, subject to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While racial discrimination is illegal, race-conscious admissions are legal. The Court has already ruled that such policies must pass a “strict scrutiny” test, which includes the requirements that there be a “compelling governmental interest” such as societal benefits of having education for a diverse population, and that they “narrowly tailored” to serve that interest.

The SFFA argues that Harvard’s admission process places a greater burden on Asian Americans compared to other races. The SFFA says that Asian Americans are consistently ranked lower on personality , and are admitted at lower levels than white applicants, despite having higher average test scores. The SFFA argues that race-conscious admissions violate the Constitution’s Equal protection Clause. They want the Court to strike down Grutter v. Bollinger.

In the SFFA’s case against UNC, the SFFA argues that the university’s policies discriminate against white applicants. The UNC, which receives funding from the federal government, is also subject to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. In pursuit of a racially-diverse student body, the university recruits low-income and first-generation students. The SFFA believes that this practice is unconstitutional, violating Title Vi and the Fourteenth Amendment.

The cases are an attack on affirmative action. Edward Blum is the face of the SFFA. he founded the Project on Fair Representation in 2005, with the aim of supporting litigation that challenges affirmative action. In founding the SFFA, Blum claimed that he wanted to return the country to the original principles of the civil rights movement, by ending race-conscious admissions policies.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed an amicus brief (a legal brief filed in support of one of the parties of a case), accusing the SFFA of engaging in a “revisionist interpretation” of Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the seminal decision that found that racial segregation in schools is unconstitutional; even if those segregated schools are other equal in quality.

The NAACP reminded the court that centuries of slavery have created a “racial caste system” that “demeans and subordinates Black people”. The purpose of race-conscious admissions is to ensure that Black people are given equal access to the educational system; and to allow them to be equal citizens in this country. That racial caste system still exists to this day. These cases are a Trojan horse that seeks to undermine decades of progress under the guise of returning the country to the original principles of the civil rights movement.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2022/10/26/2131530/-Affirmative-Action-is-Under-Threat

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