The landmark decision strikes down decades-old policies defended as a way to boost diversity.
Image source, CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagesThe US Supreme Court has overturned the practice of considering an applicant’s race during university admissions.
The landmark ruling upends decades-old US policies on so-called affirmative action, also known as positive discrimination.
It is one of the most contentious issues in US education.
Affirmative action first made its way into policy in the 1960s, and has been defended as a measure to increase diversity.
The cases heard by the justices concerned admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC).
In the ruling, the court said: “Such [race-based] admission programs must comply with strict scrutiny, may never use race as a stereotype or negative, and must – at some point, end.”
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that while the UNC and Harvard admissions programmes were “well intentioned”, they “fail each of these criteria”.
“Harvard’s admissions process rests on the pernicious stereotype that ‘a black student can usually bring something that a white person cannot offer,'” his opinion said.
The opinion, the Supreme Court noted, does not mean that universities are prohibited from considering an applicant’s “discussion of how race affects his or her life”.
The White House is reportedly reviewing Thursday’s seismic decision.