Racial Preferences Unconstitutional in College Admissions

WASHINGTON, DC — Racial preferences in college admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, the Supreme Court decided Thursday in a historic decision with profound implications for racial preferences in many areas of law and public policy.

The Supreme Court upheld racial preferences — euphemistically called “affirmative action” — in college admissions in the Bakke decision in 1978. Since then, debates have raged about whether to use quotas, point systems, or other ways of favoring one applicant over another based on the color of their skin, with the Supreme Court upholding some approaches while trimming the sails on others. Conservatives have insisted for half a century that the Constitution does not allow any of those approaches.