Joe Biden slammed the US supreme court on Thursday as “not a normal court” after it ruled to end race-conscious admissions at universities across the country, and he announced he will ask the Department of Education to look into ways to maintain student diversity in higher education.
“The court has effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions and I strongly, strongly disagree with the court’s decision,” the US president said in a short speech at the White House scheduled specifically for him to react to the decision.
Biden noted that “the court once again walked away from decades of precedent” after its six-strong supermajority of conservative justices prevailed over the opposition of the bench’s three liberal-leaning justices.
Biden was asked by a reporter shouting a question as he was leaving whether he thought America was dealing with a “rogue” court.
“This is not a normal court,” he said.
Seeking earlier to assuage any assumptions that affirmative action meant giving Black, Latino or Native American students an unfair advantage in admissions to selective colleges, Biden referred to the court’s track record before its current makeup.
“In case after case, including recently, just a few years ago in 2016, the court has affirmed and reaffirmed this view that colleges could use race, not as a determining factor for admission, but as one of the factors among many in deciding who to admit,” he said.
He added that a pool of applicants being assessed for a selective university had all already met the institution’s standards on academic grades and other qualifications and “then and only then” was their race considered, as an additional factor.
Biden said discrimination still existed in America and urged colleges and businesses not to roll back on diversity efforts.
“I believe our colleges are stronger when they are racially diverse,” he said, adding: “We cannot let this decision be a permanent setback for the country. We’re not going to let this break us.”
Biden signaled that he may consider taking executive action from the White House.
“Today, I am directing the Department of Education to analyze what practices help build more inclusive and diverse student bodies and what practices hold that back,” Biden said. He noted: “Practices like legacy admissions and other systems expand privilege instead of opportunity.”
Biden continued by asking colleges not to reject the cause of diversity in admissions.
“We cannot let this decision be the last word. The court can render a decision, it cannot change what America stands for,” he said.
Biden called for “a new path forward a path consistent with a law that protects diversity and expands opportunity”.
He called on universities not to abandon “their commitment to ensure student bodies of diverse backgrounds and experience that reflect all of America”, and further to “take into account the adversity a student has overcome when selecting among qualified applicants”.
Later on Thursday, in an interview with MSNBC, Biden said the court’s decisions recently were “so out of sorts with the basic value system of the American people”.
Biden also confirmed he did not agree with some of the supreme court reforms that some Democratic lawmakers have touted to resist the conservative court’s efforts, such as expanding the court itself.
“I think [the new conservative justices] may do too much harm but I think if we start the process to expand the court we’re going to politicize it in a way that’s not healthy,” he said.
He pointed instead to the diversity of the judges he has appointed to the appellate court system and the impact that would have on future cases.
Kamala Harris, the first woman and woman of color to be US vice-president, said in a statement that the court ruling was “a step backward for our nation” that “will make it more difficult for students from underrepresented backgrounds to have access to opportunities that will help them fulfill their full potential”.
