House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.,shared his approval of the recent Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action.
McCarthy said the decision will cause college admission decisions to become fairer and give students truly equal opportunities in education, according to a June 29 Twitter post.
"The Supreme Court just ruled that no American should be denied educational opportunities because of race," McCarthy said in his Twitter post. "Now students will be able to compete based on equal standards and individual merit. This will make the college admissions process fairer and uphold equality under the law."
The Supreme Court established fresh boundaries for affirmative action programs regarding the consideration of race in student admissions at public and private colleges and universities June 29, according to an ABC News article.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing the opinion on behalf of the conservative majority, ruled that the admissions programs of Harvard and UNC infringe upon the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, ABC News reported. The vote was 6-3 in the UNC case and 6-2 in the Harvard case, with the recusal of Justice Kentanji Brown-Jackson.
Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, according to a June 29 NPR article.
"Many universities have for too long...concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built or lessons learned but the color of their skin," Roberts said, according to NPR. "Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."
Justice Clarence Thomas released a concurring opinion of the court’s decision, in which he defended the end of affirmative action and called out Brown-Jackson’s dissent, a Daily Wire opinion piece said. The opinion piece, by Tim Meads, also noted Thomas, who was born in the Deep South during the Jim Crow Era into a poor family, has a very meaningful stance when it comes to this issue.
"While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States: that all men are created equal, are equal citizens and must be treated equally before the law," Thomas said, according to the Daily Wire.
Affirmative action refers to university and college administrations attempting to increase the number of Hispanic, Black and other minority students at their institution, according to a Reuters article. The ruling will compel prestigious colleges and universities to overhaul their policies and explore alternative approaches to foster diversity among their student bodies.
Numerous educational institutions have expressed concerns that alternative measures may not yield comparable outcomes, potentially leading to a decline in the presence of minority students on campuses, Reuters reported.
