Here’s What You Need to Know Here’s What the Supreme Court Said About Affirmative Action

criteria.”

The court held, however, that universities may still consider how an applicant’s race has shaped their personal identity.

“At the same time, as all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise,” the majority opinion states.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor stated that the Court’s ruling “rolls back decades of precedent.”

“The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society,” she added.

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BY RAHEM D. HAMID AND NEIL S. SHAH CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The Supreme Court ruled against Harvard and the University of North Carolina in a landmark decision Thursday morning, radically restricting the consideration of race in college admissions.

In a 40-page opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts ’76, all six members of the Court’s conservative wing ruled that Harvard’s and UNC’s admissions programs violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment states that all U.S. citizens must receive “equal protection of the laws” and that their “privileges or immunities” cannot be curtailed without due process of law.

Students for Fair Admissions,

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