US Supreme Court takes up race-conscious affirmative action policy

US highest court hears arguments on considering race in university admissions

Supporters of affirmative action gather outside the US Supreme Court in Washington on Monday as the judges hear arguments in two cases challenging the consideration of race in college admissions. EPA

Members of the US Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority are questioning the continued use of affirmative action in higher education, in lengthy arguments in which the justices are wrestling with questions of race.

The nation's top judges on Monday were hearing arguments from from six different lawyers in challenges to policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard.

The policies consider race among many factors in evaluating applications for admission.

During arguments in the first of two cases, the court appeared to be split along ideological lines on the issue of affirmative action.

Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s second black justice, who has a long record of opposition to affirmative action programmes, said that he did not go to racially diverse schools.

“I’ve heard the word ‘diversity’ quite a few times and I don’t have a clue what it means,” the conservative justice said at one point.

At another point, he said: “Tell me what the educational benefits are?”

People listen to Supreme Court arguments over their phone as they queue hoping to be seated inside to watch arguments in the affirmative action case in Washington on Monday. Reuters

Justice Samuel Alito likened affirmative action to a race in which a minority applicant gets to “start five yards closer to the finish line".

But liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Hispanic judge, rejected that comparison saying that universities are looking at students as a whole.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s newest justice and its first black woman, also said race was being used at UNC as part of a broad review of applicants along 40 different factors.

“They’re looking at the full person with all of these characteristics,” Ms Brown Jackson said.

The Supreme Court has twice upheld race-conscious college admissions programmes in the past 19 years, including six years ago.

Lower courts upheld the programmes at UNC and Harvard, rejecting claims that the schools discriminated against white and Asian-American applicants.

The cases are brought by conservative activist Edward Blum, who formed Students for Fair Admissions.

The group says the US Constitution forbids the use of race in college admissions and calls for overturning earlier Supreme Court decisions.

The schools say they use race in a limited way, but that eliminating it as a factor altogether would make it much harder to achieve a student body that looks like America.

Princeton University in New Jersey tops the US News Best Colleges list for 2022. Reuters

Alexander Hall on the Campus of Princeton University in New Jersey. Alamy

Blair Hall, also on the Princeton campus. Alamy

Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge grabbed the number two spot. AP

Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts makes the list in joint-third position. Getty Images

Harvard 2022 graduates jump into the Charles River amid the US heatwave. Reuters

Stanford University in California also comes in joint-third. Reuters

The Stanford University campus. AP

Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut completes the three-way tie in the rankings. Reuters

Yale currently boasts 20 billionaire alumni. AP

The University of Chicago took sixth position. Getty Images

The University of Chicago is located in the Illinois city's Hyde Park. Alamy

The University of Pennsylvania is a private institution in Philadelphia founded in 1740. EPA

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena has produced 31 alumni and faculty who have won 32 Nobel Prizes. Bloomberg

Caltech topped the global rankings for employability. Alamy

The college is renowned for its engineering and natural science schools. Alamy

The North façade of College Hall at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Photo: US National Register of Historic Places

UPenn band members and alumni spell out Penn during their homecoming American football game.

University Hall at the Northwestern University near Chicago, Illinois.

The Biden administration is urging the court to preserve race-conscious admissions.

A Gallup Poll from 2021 found 62 per cent of Americans in favour of affirmative action programmes for racial minorities.

But in a Pew Research Centre survey in March, 74 per cent of Americans, including majorities of black and Latino respondents, said race and ethnicity should not be a factor in college admissions.

A decision in the affirmative action cases is not expected before late spring.