Affirmative action in higher education appeared to take a potentially lethal hit on Wednesday, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments testing the constitutionality of a race-conscious admission program at the University of Texas, Austin.
The high court has twice upheld such programs over the past three decades. In 1978 and again in 2003, the court ruled that state colleges and universities may consider race and ethnicity as one of many factors in college admissions, as long as there are no quotas. But since then, the composition of the court has changed significantly, and at Wednesday’s argument, a court majority seemed poised to reverse or severely cut back its earlier decisions.
The case before the court concerns the admissions program at the University of Texas, where 75 percent of applicants are automatically admitted based on high school class rank. Texas law guarantees that students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their class get in. The other 25 percent, those not in the top 10 percent, are admitted under a system that includes grades, board scores, essays and other factors like leadership, awards, community activities, economic circumstances and race.
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