US Supreme Court’s limiting perception of racism led to affirmative action being overturned

In an anticipated but nonetheless stunning decision expected to have widespread implications on college campuses and workplaces across the country, the conservative majority of the US Supreme Court on June 29 outlawed affirmative action programmes that were designed to correct centuries of racist disenfranchisement in higher education.

In the majority opinion about the constitutionality of admissions programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that Harvard’s and UNC’s race-based admission guidelines “cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause”.

“College admissions are zero sum, and a benefit provided to some applicants but not to others necessarily advantages the former at the expense of the latter,” Roberts wrote.

Though not a surprise, the decision in Students for Fair Admissions vs Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions vs University of North Carolina drew widespread condemnation from civil rights groups and praise from conservative politicians.

In my view as a race and equity legal scholar focused on business, the court had subtly established an affirmative action expiration date in its 2003 Grutter vs Bollinger decision.

In that case, Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in her majority opinion that “race-conscious admissions policies must be limited in time,” adding that the “Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the...

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