, Justice Lewis Powell wrote the pivotal opinion and explained that colleges and universities have a compelling interest in having a diverse student body and may use race as one of many factors in admissions decisions to benefit minorities and enhance diversity. The Supreme Court reaffirmed this in 2003 inFisher vs. University of Texas, Austin.The immediate impact of Thursday’s decision cannot be overstated.
And nor did the conservative justices who profess to be originalists, and are committed to following the original meaning of the Constitution, pay attention to the history of the 14th Amendment. The Congress that ratified it in 1868 also adopted race conscious programs, like the Freedman’s Bureau that today undoubtedly would be considered affirmative action.
The court’s decision on Thursday will have an enormous impact because it applies to all colleges and universities, public and private. There were two cases, one against a public university, University of North Carolina, and one against Harvard College, a private institution.
But the UC system—and state institutions in states like Michigan and Washington that also abolished affirmative action—have found ways to achieve diversity through concerted efforts. There still can be aggressive outreach and recruitment of students to form a diverse campus community.