Black leaders blast Supreme Court for overturning affirmative action

Black and Latino leaders across the nation Thursday issued scathing statements against the Supreme Court after it ruled to overturn affirmative action.

Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), the first Black woman elected to the House from Pennsylvania, expressed that she was personally affronted by the court’s decision, which came down Thursday morning.

“As a Black woman who had the audacity to attend college, I am disgusted that our country just enshrined racial inequity in higher education and economic immobility into law,” Lee said in a statement. “Make no mistake — this decision by this corrupt and illegitimate Supreme Court was *designed* to keep a generation of brilliant Black young people out of higher education and positions of power.

“The people whose great grandparents were enslaved are the young people who will be shackled by this decision. The cruelty is the point,” she continued. “And let’s not forget – The Supreme Court Justices who sold us today are unelected, shamelessly corrupt, and hold lifetime appointments with no code of ethics. We must hold them accountable.”

Others, like the NAACP, said the decision removes decades of progress toward racial equity.

“Today the Supreme Court has bowed to the personally held beliefs of an extremist minority,” said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP.  

“Let me be clear – affirmative action exists because we cannot rely on colleges, universities, and employers to enact admissions and hiring practices that embrace diversity, equity and inclusion. Race plays an undeniable role in shaping the identities of and quality of life for Black Americans. In a society still scarred by the wounds of racial disparities, the Supreme Court has displayed a willful ignorance of our reality,” Johnson said.

Wisdom Cole, national director of the NAACP Youth and College Division, said Thursday marked a “dark day” in American history. 

“Affirmative action has been a beacon of hope for generations of Black students,” Cole said in a statement. “It stood as a powerful force against the insidious poison of racism and sexism, aiming to level the playing field and provide a fair shot at a high-quality education for all. Students across the country are wide awake to the clear and present danger encroaching on their classrooms. We will continue to fight, organize, mobilize and vote against all attempts to hold us back. We will hold the line against this clear pattern of hate. We will thrive!”

Affirmative action broadly refers to policies that favor individuals who have been subject to previous discrimination.  

Universities — many that have historically turned away minority students — have often used the practice to diversify enrollment. 

In Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the conservative-leaning SFFA argued that Asian Americans have been disadvantaged in the application process due to receiving lower “personal ratings” and are admitted at a lower rate than white applicants despite having higher test scores on average. 

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) said in a statement that affirmative action — which was held up in the 1978 Regents of the University of California v. Bakke — gave students “a better chance at equal admissions to our nation’s top schools, and our country has been made better for it.”

But the conservative-leaning Supreme Court ruled in favor of SFFA Thursday, stating that race-conscience admissions systems “fail to comply with the Equal Protection Clause’s twin commands that race may never be used as a ‘negative’ and that it may not operate as a stereotype.” It also said that “it is unclear how a court is supposed to determine” if or how students receive the educational benefits of diversity. 

In response, the CBC called the decision “radical,” adding that it denies young people equal opportunities for education.  

“Unfortunately, we have seen backlash to progress many times throughout our nation’s history,” the CBC said in response to the ruling.

“During Reconstruction, we had a mere 12 years of Black achievement in policy, politics, the arts and sciences, and education that were followed by 70 years of state-sanctioned Jim Crow. We didn’t stop fighting for equality then and we won’t stop now because too much is at stake to allow extremists to turn back the clock on progress.”

The group said the Supreme Court’s legitimacy is now in question. 

Former President Obama highlighted that affirmative action policies “allowed generations of students like Michelle [Obama] and me to prove we belonged.”

“Like any policy, affirmative action wasn’t perfect. But it allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged. Now it’s up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve — and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives,” Obama said in a statement.

In a separate statement, former First Lady Michelle Obama said her heart “breaks” in light of the decision. 

“My heart breaks for any young person out there who’s wondering what their future holds — and what kinds of chances will be open to them,” she said.

“And while I know the strength and grit that lies inside kids who have always had to sweat a little more to climb the same ladders, I hope and I pray that the rest of us are willing to sweat a little, too. Today is a reminder that we’ve got to do the work not just to enact policies that reflect our values of equity and fairness, but to truly make those values real in all of our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods.”

Others, like Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), declared the Supreme Court is dedicated to “moving backwards” and pointed to the consequences that ending affirmative action could have on Black and brown students. 

“Ending affirmative action in higher education—which the Court had already held to be legal—will have devastating impacts on our communities,” Bush said in a statement. 

“Universities have historically denied Black, brown, and Indigenous people from accessing institutions of higher education. Affirmative action helped level the racist and uneven playing field. Colleges and universities must ensure students benefit from the diverse perspectives and experiences of qualified students from all backgrounds. This is yet another example of why we must double down on our efforts for Court reform, pass the Judiciary Act and reclaim democracy.” 

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said the decision, made by a “far-right” Supreme Court, will only exacerbate systemic oppression Black and brown students have faced for decades. 

“This damning decision to overturn decades of legal precedent and ban race-conscious admissions is just the latest in the white supremacist assault on equity in education,” Pressley said in a statement. 

She called on universities to reaffirm their commitment to racial and ethnic diversity, and for all levels of government to create legislation that addresses structural barriers that contribute to racial disparities in educational access.

“With this extremist Supreme Court demonstrating time and again its contempt for our most vulnerable, we must expand the court to build its integrity and bring balance to the bench,” Pressley added.