How does this ruling compare with other recent Supreme Court cases on diversity and education?
The opinion is the first to touch on the issue of diversity and education since 2003, when a 5-4 ruling upheld the limited consideration of race in college admissions to attain a diverse student body. Since then, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who approved of the limited use of race, has retired. Her replacement, Justice Samuel Alito, was in the majority that struck down the school districts’ plans in Louisville and Seattle. The 2003 cases looked at the undergraduate and law-school admissions policies at the University of Michigan. In those cases, the court upheld affirmative action in college admissions in principle, and it supported the idea that using race as one factor to promote classroom diversity is a permissible goal. Does the ruling affect the use of affirmative action in colleges and universities? No. The majority opinion explicitly does not reverse the court’s 2003 decision upholding the right of colleges and universities to use race as one of several factors in achieving a di
