Supreme Court to hear arguments in university affirmative action suits

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear two cases Monday questioning whether universities can consider an applicant’s race in the admissions process.

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Challenges to affirmative action admissions policies that have been in place for decades at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University will be heard by the justices.

The policies consider an applicant’s race as a part of the admissions process, and the court will be tasked with deciding whether those policies violate the civil rights of other students.

The arguments come after lower-court rulings upheld the two programs. The Supreme Court has twice upheld race-conscious college admissions programs in the past 19 years, including just six years ago, The Associated Press reported.

Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit group headed by Edward Blum, has accused Harvard of discriminating against Asian American applicants by violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, color or national origin under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

Harvard is a private university, but it is still subject to Title VI because it receives public funds.

According to the suit, Harvard discriminates against Asian American students by setting a higher bar for their admittance to the school.

In the University of North Carolina case, Blum’s group is arguing in the North Carolina case that the college’s use of affirmative action in its admissions process violates The 14th Amendment by discriminating against Asian American and whites.

The universities have argued that race is only one factor looked at for admissions and that their goal is to have a diverse student body.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, nine states already prohibit any consideration of race in admissions to public colleges and universities: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.

The suits against the schools were filed separately in 2014.

Students for Fair Admissions argued in papers filed with the Supreme Court that the Constitution requires colorblind admissions, quoting Chief Justice John Roberts from a 2007 ruling: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

The schools have argued that banning any consideration of race would be inconsistent with equal protection.

In two amicus briefs filed with the court ahead of the arguments, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley both said that efforts to meet diversity goals without using race were falling short.

According to a Washington Post poll, 63% of adults sampled in the United States say they support the Supreme Court banning colleges and universities from considering a student’s race and ethnicity when making decisions about student admissions.

In the same survey, 64% said that programs designed to increase the racial diversity of students on college campuses are a good thing.

UNC says its freshman class is about 65% white, 22% Asian American, 10% Black and 10% Hispanic. The numbers add to more than 100% because some students report belonging to more than one category, a school spokesman told the AP.

White students are just over 40% of Harvard’s freshman class, the school said, with just under 28% Asian American, 14% Black and 12% Latino.

A ruling in the case will come sometime in the court’s session, which began the first Monday in October and usually ends the last week of June.

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