Tue | Jun 30, 2026

US Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action

Published:Friday | June 30, 2023 | 1:09 AM
People protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington yesterday. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to
Jose Luis Magana
People protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington yesterday. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.

WASHINGTON (AP:

As a black student who was raised by a single mother, Makia Green believes she benefited from a programme that gave preference to students of colour from economically disadvantaged backgrounds when she was admitted over a decade ago to the University of Rochester.

As a borrower, who still owes just over US$20,000 on her undergraduate student loans, she has been counting on President Joe Biden’s promised debt relief to wipe nearly all of that away.

Now, the student loan cancellation plan could be dismantled by the US Supreme Court, which on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions. Both policies disproportionately help black students. To Green and many other people of colour, the efforts to roll them back reflect a larger backlash to racial progress in higher education.

“I feel like working people have been through enough — I have been through enough,” said Green, a community organiser. “From a pandemic, an uprising, a recession, the cost of living price going up. I deserved some relief.”

The rulings could also have political consequences among a generation of young voters of colour who took Biden at his word when he promised to cancel debt, said Wisdom Cole, director of NAACP’s youth and college programme.

“Year after year, we have elected officials, we have advocates, we have different politicos coming to our communities making promises. But now it’s time to deliver on those promises,” he said.

The president’s plan forgives up to US$10,000 in federal student debt for borrowers, and doubles the debt relief to US$20,000 for borrowers who also received Pell Grants. About half of the average debt held by Black and Hispanic borrowers would be wiped out, according to the White House. Six Republican-led states filed a legal challenge questioning whether the president, a Democrat, has authority to forgive the debt.

In the affirmative action cases, the court was considering the use of race-conscious admissions policies that many selective colleges have used for decades to help build diversity on their campuses. The cases were brought by a conservative activist who argues the Constitution forbids the use of race in college admissions.