(TheConservativeTimes.org) – Former President Donald Trump lauded the Supreme Court’s decision in the controversial case Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, which held that race-based discrimination in the college admissions process is unlawful.
Trump issued a statement hailing the decision as a “great day for America,” and saying that “people with extraordinary ability” are rightfully being “rewarded” based on merit, as opposed to what conservatives have often called diversity quotas that unfairly discriminate against white and Asian students.
In the case, the High Court ultimately ruled 6-3 in favor of striking down race-based college admissions practices—commonly known as “affirmative action”—with all three of the Court’s liberal justices dissenting. The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., held that both Harvard College and the University of North Carolina unlawfully used race as a “determining factor” in their admissions process.
The Court’s reasoning revolved mainly around the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause, which race-based college admissions violated, the Court’s majority ruled.
In addition to the majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion further emphasizing the underlying principles of the decision, that being the ideal of neutrality in American law, and that the country’s principles forbid racial discrimination in any context, even if it is claimed to be a remedy to past discrimination.
The Court’s ruling has largely been seen as a victory for conservatives, who have primarily argued against affirmative action in colleges and universities. The news also comes as the Supreme Court also struck another blow to the Biden administration one day later, striking down President Biden’s $400 billion student debt forgiveness plan, which would have forgiven the student loans of tens of millions of Americans.
Once again, all three of the Court’s liberal justices dissented. That decision marked the last opinion of the Court’s annual term, which included a handful of groundbreaking conservative legal victories. Overturning of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, as well as striking down the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to make sweeping regulations without the consent of Congress, were considered to be massive victories for conservatives.
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