Harvard Critics Ask Supreme Court to Ban Race in Admissions
- Lower court rejected group’s claim Asian-Americans were harmed
- Court’s conservative majority may weigh race in admissions
Photographer: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
Opponents of Harvard College’s affirmative action policies asked the Supreme Court to bar colleges from using race as an admissions factor, setting up what could be a defining showdown for higher education and the court’s conservative majority.
The appeal by Students for Fair Admissions asks the court to overturn the 2003 ruling that let universities keep using race-conscious admissions to diversify their student bodies. A federal appeals court rejected the group’s lawsuit, which contends Harvard is violating federal civil rights laws by intentionally discriminating against Asian-Americans in undergraduate admissions.