Say Goodbye to the Minority - Affirmative Action is No More
What is affirmative action?
Affirmative action is a program created to give colleges and workplaces the chance to diversify their population while also giving opportunities to minorities. However, in recent years, the affirmative action program has caused a discourse throughout the United States, as some consider the program to be discriminatory. After years of debate, the program reached a Supreme Court ruling on June 29th that deemed it unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court’s Ruling and What It Means
With affirmative action being unconstitutional, it has prevented colleges from considering race while deciding admissions. It completely reverses this program, ending it. This prevents marginalized groups from having access to colleges, most specifically highly-ranked institutions. The groups that this decision has negatively affected are Black and Latino students. Due to the lack of opportunities given to most of these students, the affirmative action program assisted them in achieving their goals. However, without it, diversity and opportunity will decrease in universities.
The importance of the 14th Amendment.
The Supreme Court, with a 6-3 majority vote, found that the affirmative action program breaks the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The affirmative action program, established in Grutter v. Bollinger, aimed at reducing discrimination and ensuring equal opportunity. However, according to the petitioner, the program violates this clause because no government program has the authority to give an advantage to a specific group of people.
Gutter v. Bollinger
Over 20 years ago, on June 23, 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that race can be used in student admissions to promote diversity. To summarize, Barbara Grutter sued the University of Michigan’s law school because she did not get in and claimed that the school’s affirmative action program prevented her from getting accepted to the institution. The school used affirmative action to promote diversity, which was the argument used in this case. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court deemed the affirmative action policy of Michigan Law School constitutional because they believed that its goal of diversity is of great importance. Now, things have changed with the Supreme Court’s view of affirmative action, as schools will begin to follow the railings, and diversity within institutions will decrease.
The lasting effects the ruling will have on America
With the elimination of the affirmative action program comes a decline in diversity throughout universities and workplaces. According to research taken from universities that have already eliminated the program, studies have found a decrease in minority enrollment, specifically the acceptance of Black, Latino, and Indigenous students. Due to race not being a factor in the college admissions process anymore, colleges will have a harder time maintaining and increasing their diversity rates.
Even though the ruling comes as a shock to the majority of Americans, government officials and individuals will not stop fighting for diversity in colleges and work fields.
SOURCES:
What the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action does and does not do [CNN Politics]
Supreme Court reverses affirmative action, gutting race-conscious admissions [NPR]
8 states that already had bans on affirmative action [NewsNation]
Grutter v. Bollinger - Case Summary and Case Brief [Legal Dictionary]
Grutter v. Bollinger :: 539 U.S. 306 (2003) [Justia US Supreme Court Center]
Remarks by President Biden on the Supreme Court’s Decision on Affirmative Action [White House]
Supreme Court strikes down use of affirmative action, a blow to efforts to diversify medical schools [Stat]
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