When the Supreme Court delivered a devastating blow to affirmative action on Thursday, the court's newest justice—and its first Black female—unleashed a blistering dissent. Ketanji Brown Jackson also sparred with the court's other Black justice, Clarence Thomas, in their separate opinions on the case, even calling each other out by name. Coverage:
- The ruling: The majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts struck down as unconstitutional college admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that factored in applicants' race. The policies "lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points," wrote Roberts. Read the majority opinion, via CNN.
- Jackson: In her dissent, Jackson blasted the ruling. "With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat," she wrote. "But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life," she added. "And having so detached itself from this country's actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve America's real-world problems."
- Jackson, II: "Today's ruling makes things worse, not better," Jackson wrote. "If the colleges of this country are required to ignore a thing that matters, it will not just go away. It will take longer for racism to leave us. And, ultimately, ignoring race just makes it matter more." Read her full dissent, via Politico. The Hill notes that Jackson recused herself from the Harvard case because she previously served on its Board of Overseers, but she did participate in the UNC case. Thus, the rulings were 6-2 and 6-3 respectively.