In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in Grutter v. Bollinger that an admissions process that gives preference to “underrepresented minority groups” does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Affirmative action began under President Lyndon B. Johnson. If you want to argue that such a policy was necessary at that point in our history, you could probably make a reasonable case. But such a policy could never be permanent. At some point, America had to progress to the point where such a policy was no longer necessary. In fact, in her majority opinion, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said just that. Despite the court’s condoning of racial preferences, O’Connor wrote, “The Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.”
On Thursday, the Supreme Court finally ruled that race-based admissions do, in fact, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in its rulings in Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions vs. the University of North Carolina. Justice O’Connor was only off by six years.
Radical leftists are, of course, freaking out. “Every child deserves a chance to chase their American Dream,” tweeted Nancy Pelosi. “Yet sadly, today’s Supreme Court ruling narrows access to higher education & the crucial ladder of opportunity that it provides. Its impact will be felt imminently, diminishing hard-fought progress for racial justice.”
“The Supreme Court ruling has put a giant roadblock in our country’s march for racial justice,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “The consequences of this decision will be felt immediately and across the country, as students of color will face an admission cycle next year with fewer opportunities to attend the same colleges and universities than their parents and older siblings.”
Apparently, they don’t think that black people are smart enough to get into college on merit alone, which is truly tragic. If there’s anything we can infer from their statements and the statements of many others on the left, is that, unlike Justice O’Connor, they didn’t see race-based policy admissions to be a temporary fix. For them, there will always be racial injustice justifying tipping the scales in favor of minorities at the expense of white Americans.
Let’s not forget that, five years after Grutter v. Bollinger, America elected the first black president of the United States. He may have been an awful president, but if there was any milestone that should have put the issue of affirmative after to rest, that was it. Yet it still took another 15 years before the Supreme Court finally did the right thing. From where I sit, this day was long overdue.
Make no mistake about it: the doom and gloom that the radical left is predicting isn’t going to happen. In fact, most Americans believe the country is ready to turn the page on affirmative action. According to a 2022 Pew Research poll, 73% of Americans are opposed to colleges and universities considering race or ethnicity in student admissions decisions. Only 19% believe it should be a minor factor, and merely 7% consider it a major factor. Even minorities are opposed to affirmative action. The same poll revealed that 62% of black Americans, 65% of Hispanic Americans, and 58% of Asian Americans do not believe race or ethnicity should play a role in admissions.
America is ready for colorblind admissions. Just because the Democrats aren’t doesn’t mean that we should listen to them.
