Affirmative action died Thursday at the hands of the Supreme Court’s conservative constitutional revolution. In a 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court overturned nearly 50 years of precedent and held that it’s unconstitutional for universities to take account of racial diversity in their admissions.
The opinion eviscerated the diversity arguments that have become central to many universities’ self-conception over the last few decades. Roberts wrote that the goals of diversity were too diffuse and nonspecific to be measured; that since admissions are zero-sum, giving help to students of some races necessarily hurts those of others; and that there was no end in sight to programs that the Supreme Court warned 20 years ago needed an eventual sunset.
More fundamentally, Roberts articulated a theory of equal protection that conservatives have been advocating almost since affirmative action began: that it is effectively always wrong to treat people differently based on race, no matter why. It doesn’t matter whether the objective is to help rectify past injustice or foster more social mobility. Under this so-called “colorblind” theory of the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, drafted and ratified to protect formerly enslaved African Americans, can be used to block descendants of those freed people from attaining social equality.
