Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 31, 2022
Decided June 29, 2023
Full case nameStudents for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College
Docket no.20-1199
Citations600 U.S. 181 (more)
ArgumentOral argument
Opinion announcementOpinion announcement
DecisionOpinion
Case history
PriorJudgment for Harvard, 397 F. Supp. 3d 126 (D. Mass. 2019); affirmed, 980 F.3d 157 (1st Cir. 2020); cert. granted, 142 S. Ct. 895 (2022)
Questions presented
(1) Should this Court overrule Grutter v. Bollinger, and hold that institutions of higher education cannot use race as a factor in admissions; and
(2) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act bans race-based admissions that, if done by a public university, would violate the Equal Protection Clause. Is Harvard violating Title VI by penalizing Asian-American applicants, engaging in racial balancing, overemphasizing race, and rejecting workable race-neutral alternatives?
Holding
Harvard's admissions program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Clarence Thomas · Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Neil Gorsuch · Brett Kavanaugh
Amy Coney Barrett · Ketanji Brown Jackson
Case opinions
MajorityRoberts, joined by Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett
ConcurrenceThomas
ConcurrenceGorsuch, joined by Thomas
ConcurrenceKavanaugh
DissentSotomayor, joined by Kagan; Jackson (as it applies to University of North Carolina)
DissentJackson (as it applies to University of North Carolina)
Jackson[a] took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV;
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), is a landmark decision[1][2][3][4] of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the court held that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions processes (excepting military academies) violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.[5] With its companion case, Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, the Supreme Court effectively overruled Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)[6] and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), which validated some affirmative action in college admissions provided that race had a limited role in decisions.[b]

In 2013, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) filed suit against Harvard University in U.S. District Court in Boston, alleging that the university's undergraduate admission practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Asian Americans. In 2019 a district court judge upheld Harvard's limited use of race as a factor in admissions, stating lack of evidence for 'discriminatory animus' or 'conscious prejudice'.[8]

In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the district court's ruling.[9] In 2021, SFFA petitioned the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.[10][11] Following the appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers at the time, the cases were split with Jackson recusing from the Harvard case while participating in the North Carolina one.[12]

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Harvard that, by a vote of 6–2, reversed the lower court ruling. In writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts held that affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional. Because of the absence of U.S. military academies in the cases, the lack of relevant lower court rulings, and the potentially distinct interests that the military academies may present, the Court, limited by Article III, did not decide the fate of race-based affirmative action in the military academies.[13][14]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Sherman, Mark (June 29, 2023). "Divided Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action in college admissions, says race can't be used". Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  2. ^ Aditi Sangal, Adrienne Vogt, Sydney Kashiwagi, Matt Meyer and Tori B. Powell (June 30, 2023). "June 29, 2023 Supreme Court affirmative action decision". CNN. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis in admissions — a landmark decision that overturns long-standing precedent that has benefited Black and Latino students in higher education. [...] The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis in admissions — a landmark decision that overturns long-standing precedent that has benefited Black and Latino students in higher education.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Deliso, Meredith (June 29, 2023). "Students react to landmark Supreme Court affirmative action decision". ABC News. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023. Students debated the fairness of a landmark Supreme Court decision on Thursday that sets new limits on race as a factor in admissions to public and private colleges and universities.
  4. ^ "U.S. Supreme Court Issues Landmark SFFA College Affirmative Action Decision". jdsupra.com. JDSUPRA. June 29, 2023. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023. On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision on the use of race as a factor in collegiate admissions in two cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA).
  5. ^ Supreme Court of the United States 2023, p. 23.
  6. ^ Watson, Bill (August 25, 2023). "Did the Court in SFFA Overrule Grutter?". Notre Dame Law Review Reflection (99) – via SSRN.
  7. ^ Supreme Court of the United States 2023, p. 106.
  8. ^ "Students for Fair Admissions v. President of Harvard Coll., 397 F. Supp. 3d 126 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  9. ^ "Students for Fair Admissions v. President of Harvard Coll., 980 F.3d 157 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  10. ^ Pazzanese, Christina (June 29, 2023). "Harvard united in resolve in face of Supreme Court's admissions ruling". The Harvard Gazette. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
  11. ^ Liptak, Adam (January 24, 2022). "Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Affirmative Action at Harvard and U.N.C." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 1, 2022. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  12. ^ Howe, Amy (July 22, 2022). "Court will hear affirmative-action challenges separately, allowing Jackson to participate in UNC case". SCOTUSblog. Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  13. ^ Totenberg, Nina (June 29, 2023). "Supreme Court guts affirmative action, effectively ending race-conscious admissions". NPR. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  14. ^ Howe, Amy (June 29, 2023). "Opinion Analysis: Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action programs in college admissions". scotusblog.com. SCOTUSblog. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023. Retrieved July 11, 2023.