The nation's highest court is set to hear arguments today in a case challenging affirmative action in higher education.
The most diverse court in the nation’s history — among the nine justices are four women, two Black people and a Latina — is weighing challenges to admissions programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard that use race among many factors in seeking a diverse student body.
The questions the justices offered further laid bare the stark ideological divisions on the court in an era of intense political polarization in the country. “Your position is that race matters because it’s necessary for diversity, which is necessary for the sort of education you want. It’s not going to stop mattering at some particular point,” said Chief Justice John Roberts, who has long been skeptical of considerations of race.
The Supreme Court has twice upheld race-conscious college admissions programs in the past 19 years, including just six years ago. Colleges and universities can use other, race-neutral ways to assemble a diverse student body, including by focusing on socioeconomic status and eliminating the preference for children of alumni and major donors, Students for Fair Admissions argues.
“We did not fight a civil war over oboe players,” Roberts countered, a sharp allusion to the nation’s long struggle with race.
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