Justice Sotomayor Defends Racial and Ethnic Classifications Relied Upon by Harvard and UNC

Justice Sotomayor, in the Students for Fair Admissions affirmative action cases:

The Court also holds that Harvard's and UNC's race conscious programs are unconstitutional because they rely on racial categories that are "imprecise," "opaque," and "arbitrary."

We're off to a bad start. The issue is not simply that Harvard and UNC use these categories in a "race conscious" way, it's that Harvard and UNC classified their students by these categories, and then gave them an admissions bonus if they checked the box showing they were members of certain classifications.