WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court on Thursday banned the use of race and ethnicity in university admissions, dealing a major blow to a decades-old practice that boosted educational opportunities for African-Americans and other minorities.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that while affirmative action was "well-intentioned and implemented in good faith," it cannot last forever, and amounted to unconstitutional discrimination against others. "Ignoring race will not equalize a society that is racially unequal. What was true in the 1860s, and again in 1954, is true today: Equality requires acknowledgment of inequality," she wrote.The court sided with an activist group, Students for Fair Admissions, that sued the oldest private and public institutions of higher education in the country -- elite Harvard University and the University of North Carolina -- over their admissions policies.
Such affirmative action policies arose from the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s aiming to help address the legacy of discrimination in higher education against African Americans. It "will make the college admissions process fairer and uphold equality under the law," added Republican US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The affirmative action ruling could have the same effect of many states and institutions halting programs designed to give disadvantaged minorities extra consideration in the competitive admissions process.