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U.S. Supreme Court to hear challenge to race-conscious college admissions -Breaking

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO – Students pass Wilson Library, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (North Carolina), U.S.A, September 20, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake/File photo

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Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley

(Reuters) – Monday saw the U.S. Supreme Court hear a petition to prohibit Harvard University from considering race for undergraduate admissions. The case is a threat to affirmative action policies used widely to increase Black students and Hispanics on American campuses.

Students for Fair Admissions (founded by Edward Blum), appealed lower court rulings which upheld programs that were used at two highly regarded universities in order to support a diverse student body. These cases offer the court with its conservative 6-3 majority a chance of ending such policies.

Plaintiffs allege that universities discriminated against students based on race, violating federal law or the U.S. Constitution. Blum’s group accused Harvard discriminating against Asian American applicants. UNC was also accused by Blum’s group of discriminating against Asian American applicants.

According to universities, race does not play a role in admissions decisions. This is despite the fact that they do use it as a factor in many individualized assessments for admission without quotas.

The U.S. Conservatives have long opposed affirmative-action programs in areas such as student admissions and hiring to remedy past discrimination against minority groups.

Another sign that conservative justices are assertive, with a 6-3 majority in their favor, is the case. This shows willingness to make decisions on even the most contentious issues. In blockbuster cases involving gun control and abortion rights, the justices have already decided to rule before June ends.

Affirmative action has withstood Supreme Court scrutiny for decades, including in a 2016 ruling https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-court-affirmativeaction-idINKCN0ZA08C involving a white student, backed by Blum, who challenged a University of Texas policy, though the justices have narrowed its application.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 2020, ruled Harvard’s inclusion of race wasn’t “impermissibly broad” nor “meaningful”, because it stopped the racial diversity of Harvard undergraduate students from falling. The Ivy League school was also supported by a federal judge in 2019.

Lawrence Bacow of Harvard University stated that Supreme Court decision to hear case “puts at Risk 40 Years worth legal precedent which grants colleges and universities the flexibility and freedom to create diverse campus communities.”

Bacow stated that “considering race among other factors in admissions decisions creates a greater student body which strengthens learning environment for everyone,” adding, “Harvard doesn’t discriminate.”

Even though the UNC case was still being reviewed by a lower federal appels court, the justices decided to take up UNC. The federal judge of 2021 determined that minority students were less likely to receive admission based on the criteria “ignoreing” their racial barriers.

Beth Keith, UNC associate vice chancellor, university communications, stated that the court found our procedure to be consistent with Supreme Court precedent. This allows students to be evaluated in a thoughtful and deliberate manner.

‘NEW DISCRIMINATION’

Blum was very happy with the Supreme Court’s decision.

In a nation that is multiracial and multiethnic, college admissions cannot be increased for certain races or ethnicities but decreased for others. Blum stated that the nation can’t fix past discrimination or racial preferences by introducing new discrimination or different racial preferences.

Blum’s lawsuit against Harvard was filed in 2014 by Blum’s organization. It accused Harvard of violating Title VI of Civil Rights Act of 64, which prohibits discrimination based upon race, color, national origin, under any federal program or activity that receives financial aid. Harvard, a private university located in Cambridge (Massachusetts), was established in 1636. The federal government provides funding.

UNC was also sued by the group in 2014. They were accused of using race as a main factor in admissions, in violation the U.S Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee that equal protection is given to all. North Carolina’s most prestigious public university is UNC. It was chartered in Chapel Hill in 1789.

In 1978, the Supreme Court made the first affirmative action case in favor of college admissions. It was in the landmark Regents of the University of California.

Blum’s organization asked the Supreme Court for an overturning of a 2003 Supreme Court case in Grutter. Bollinger involved the University of Michigan Law School. It held that colleges may consider race when determining admissions.

In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 for Texas University. The conservative majority of the court has expanded. Justice Anthony Kennedy, now a retired conservative justice joined four liberal justices. Trump appointed three new justices to the Supreme Court, thereby moving it rightward.

Following the lawsuit filed by Blum, Donald Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden supported Harvard.

It is anticipated that the case will be heard in court during the next term of the court, which commences in October 2023 and ends in June 2023.

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