Supreme Court affirmative action ruling bars colleges from considering race in admissions decisions

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the use of race as a factor in admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina was unconstitutional, departing from a nearly half-century of guidance on affirmative action and erecting new hurdles for underrepresented students of color and efforts by schools to ensure diversity in their classrooms.

The court, in a 6-3 decision that was among the most widely anticipated of the concluding term, ruled the schools’ admission programs violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Court precedent from 1978, eroded in subsequent decisions, allowed race to be considered in higher education under narrow circumstances.

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