Following previous cases involving abortion and weapons, the US Supreme Court will discuss the role of race in admission decisions to some of the best universities in the country on Monday.
And just as it did in June when it overturned the well-known ‘Roe v. Wade’ decision from 1973 that safeguarded a woman’s right to an abortion, the conservative-dominated court might be willing to change its mind once more.
Two hours of oral arguments will be held in front of the court over the use of race in admissions to Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC), the country’s oldest private and public universities, respectively.
In an effort to ensure that minorities, particularly African Americans, are represented in the student body, Harvard and UNC use race as a criterion, like many other selective universities.
The ‘affirmative action’ policy was developed in the late 1960s as a result of the Civil Rights Movement to ‘help address our country’s long history of discrimination and systematic inequity in higher education,’ according to Yasmin Cader, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
It has been criticised by right-wing critics since the start and numerous white students have brought ‘reverse discrimination’ claims in court over the years.
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