In the course of the civil rights movement, a rule for dealing with minorities at universities was introduced in the USA. The Supreme Court has now overturned this.
In a historic ruling, the US Supreme Court ruled that universities should not take the color of their skin into account when selecting university applicants. The Washington Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the practice, known as affirmative action or affirmative action, is unconstitutional. With this approach, universities had tried for decades to ensure better access for minorities – especially Afro-Americans.
The verdict was passed by a conservative majority on the Supreme Court of six to three judges’ votes. “The student must be treated as an individual on the basis of his or her experience – not on the basis of race,” Court President John Roberts wrote in the ruling. In the United States, the term “race” (race) is used to distinguish population groups based on their skin color.
“For too long, many universities have wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges overcome, skills acquired, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin,” Roberts said. “The constitutional history of this nation does not tolerate this choice.”
Introduced during the civil rights movement
At the same time, the Court stated that universities could consider applicants’ descriptions of how their skin color shaped their lives – but only with reference to the “quality of character or unique ability that the applicant can bring to the university”.
The ruling concerned lawsuits brought by the student organization Students for Fair Admissions against the elite private university Harvard and the state University of North Carolina (UNC). The plaintiffs argue, among other things, that applicants with Asian roots are disadvantaged by the selection process, which is particularly aimed at African Americans.
Measures known as Affirmative Action were introduced in the 1960s as part of the US civil rights movement. The aim was to give African Americans better access to good educational institutions after centuries of oppression, discrimination and disadvantage. Hispanics and Indigenous people should also benefit from the programs.
However, such programs were controversial from the start. For example, white university applicants went to court with the argument that they were victims of “reverse discrimination”. Critics also claim that taking skin color into account cements the division of people into different groups and thus divides society.
Historical caesura
In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that universities should not use fixed quotas based on skin color when selecting applicants. However, skin color or ethnic origin could be used as one of several criteria to ensure diversity in the student body.
Now the court, which has moved to the right in recent years, overturned the principle of affirmative action at universities – a historic turning point.
The left-liberal constitutional judge Sonia Sotomayor sharply criticized the majority decision. The verdict would roll back “decades” of progress. “The Court cements a superficial rule of color blindness as a constitutional principle in an endemic (by color) segregated society.
