Supreme Court takes America backwards in striking down race in college admissions

Harvard students Nahla Owens (L) and Kashish Bastola (R) become emotional about the Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action, outside the U.S. Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill, June 29. (Getty)

On Thursday, in a decision that turns a blind eye to the realities of race in America and sets aside years of legal precedent, the Supreme Court did what court-watchers had been expecting for weeks: It struck down affirmative action in higher education.

In cases involving admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, the court’s conservative majority ruled that the use of race as a factor in college admissions is unconstitutional. No matter that previous court rulings, in a string of cases stretching back to 1978, had upheld such race-conscious admissions.