GSU law professors discuss the striking down of affirmative action in college admissions

June 29th, 2023

Demonstrators protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, June 29, 2023, after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, saying race cannot be a factor. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions.

The high court ruled that race-conscious admissions are unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment in cases involving the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard University.

In the University of North Carolina case, the vote was 6-3, and the vote was 6-2 in the Harvard case after Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recused herself.

In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote “many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin. This Nation’s constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”

Georgia State University law professors Tanya Washington and Anthony Michael Kreis were guests on Thursday’s edition of “Closer Look.” They talked with Rose about the implications of the ruling.

“Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color are experiencing different economic, political and social realities by virtue of their race, not by virtue of their choice,” said Professor Washington while explaining why she disagreed with the court’s decision.

Kries further explained how legacy admissions – students admitted to an institution or organization based on the applicant’s family or financial connection — is the greatest form of affirmative action and why the court’s ruling might not change the way schools admit students.

“At the end day, the court’s majority still said that you consider race, you just can’t have these overt policies,” said Kries.

After Calvin Yang was denied admission to Harvard, he became a member of Students for Fair Admissions. In his reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action in college admissions, he said it, “marks the promise of a new beginning … and a return to egalitarian principles for all.”