Once again, the U.S. Supreme Court has brushed aside its own precedents to achieve a long-sought conservative goal — banning race-conscious college admissions. Unlike last year’s inflammatory decision overturning abortion rights, however, this ruling is likely to be popular.
Americans have been leery of race, ethnic and gender preferences since the Nixon administration first introduced them in 1969. According to a recent YouGov poll, two-thirds of the public say colleges shouldn’t factor race into their admissions decisions. Majorities of whites, Hispanics and women take that view, as does a plurality of Blacks, Democrats and liberals.
But polls don’t quite settle the issue. Neither will the court’s ruling that the University of North Carolina violated the 14th Amendment’s “equal protection” clause and Harvard violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act by using race as one of several factors in deciding which students to admit.
The court’s ruling only applies to affirmative action in college admissions. Programs that put a thumb on the scale for women and minorities seeking jobs as cops or firefighters, in competition for government contracts and radio licenses, and for private sector jobs are pervasive — and remain controversial.
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