Progressives are appalled at the Supreme Court\u2019s decision to strike down affirmative action, a move they see as undermining their decades-long push for diversity and inclusion in the higher education system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court\u2019s 6-3 ruling Thursday put liberals on the defensive, arguing that another marker of social advancement for underrepresented communities had been thwarted by a conservative majority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Supreme Court has yet again taken us back in time by barring institutions of higher education from using race-conscious admissions policies,\u201d said Rep. Jamaal Bowman\u2002<\/a>(D-N.Y.), a prominent education advocate and former school principal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The decision concluded that admissions committees at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill used discriminatory practices when considering both Asian American and white applicants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But progressives defended the process as a way to safeguard protections for predominantly Black and Latino prospective students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese policies are critical to ensuring that our Black and brown students, who have already experienced redlining and systemic underinvestment in their schools and communities, have an equitable shot at higher education to pursue their dreams,\u201d Bowman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rep. Summer Lee\u2002<\/a>(D-Pa.), a newly elected member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, levied a stronger critique, linking her personal path to obtaining a college diploma to what she described as intentional cruelty from a \u201ccorrupt\u201d court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a Black woman who had the audacity to attend college, I am disgusted that our country just enshrined racial inequity in higher education and economic immobility into law,\u201d Lee wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMake no mistake \u2014 this decision by this corrupt and illegitimate Supreme Court was *designed* to keep a generation of brilliant Black young people out of higher education and positions of power,\u201d she continued. \u201cThe people whose great grandparents were enslaved are the young people who will be shackled by this decision. The cruelty is the point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leaders from the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Black Caucus, and Hispanic Caucus issued a joint statement sharply condemning the ruling, one of several that Democrats had been eagerly awaiting in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rep. Cori Bush\u2002<\/a>(D-Mo.), who has been vocal about social justice issues in Congress, said that the move will have long-standing negative implications for future applicants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEnding affirmative action in higher education \u2014 which the Court had already held to be legal \u2014 will have devastating impacts on our communities,\u201d Bush wrote in a statement, adding that the court has \u201conce again rolled back protections for people in marginalized communities across this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ruling has opened up fresh questions about how many students from diverse backgrounds will apply to colleges in future cycles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chief Justice John Roberts\u2002<\/a>made clear the Supreme Court\u2019s position in writing his majority opinion. He argued that the two universities had admissions guidelines that were at odds with the 14th Amendment\u2019s guarantee of equal protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBoth programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points,\u201d Roberts wrote. \u201cWe have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after the majority ruling was made public, Democrats and affirmative action proponents were quick to rally in opposition. Liberals argue the majority of justices are pretending that discrimination is not an ongoing problem in higher education, but rather a relic of the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n