SCOTUS upholds affirmative action in college admissions:
The Supreme Court on Thursday said University of Texas admission officials may consider the race of student applicants in a limited way to build a diverse student body.
The 4-to-3 decision was a surprising win for advocates of affirmative action, who say the benefits of diversity at the nation’s colleges and universities are worth the intrusion on the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection that generally forbids the government from making decisions based on racial classifications.
“The University of Texas at Austin has a special opportunity to learn and to teach” others about how to achieve diversity, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
wrote in the court’s majority opinion.
Kennedy had never before voted to uphold a race-conscious plan, but he also had been reluctant to say race may never be used. He was joined by three of the courts liberal justices: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Elena Kagan recused herself.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote a 51-page dissent and summarized it by saying the majority’s conclusion is “remarkable — and remarkably wrong.” Alito was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Clarence Thomas.
The specific case was brought in 2008 by Abigail Fisher, a white woman who was denied admission to the university. Her suit was organized and funded by a conservative legal organization that opposes racial preferences in government and brought the challenge that resulted in the justices striking a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013.
Is there any point, after this decision, on top of the way he decided in last Junes
Obergefell v. Hodges case, in calling Kennedy a swing vote?
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