ACS Statement in Response to SCOTUS Decisions Banning Affirmative Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Rodriguez, media@acslaw.org

Washington, DC – In response to the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decisions in Students for Fair Admissions Inc v. Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions Inc v. University of North Carolina, the American Constitution Society released the following statements:

“Today’s decisions, banning affirmative action in U.S. higher education, are a serious blow to our country’s multi-decade pursuit of closing the racial education gap and fostering college campuses that reflect the American public,” said ACS President Russ Feingold. “These decisions will inevitably have ripple effects and risk further inflaming resistance to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our schools and workplaces. Yet again, the Roberts Court has positioned itself as a staunch opponent to our pursuit of a genuinely multiracial democracy.”

“The Roberts Court’s decisions blatantly distort the original purpose of the 14th Amendment and key precedents like Brown v. Board of Education—guaranteeing equal opportunity for formerly enslaved Black Americans and their descendants,” said ACS Director of Policy and Program for Racial Justice Taonga Leslie. “As Justice Sotomayor put in her dissent, ‘what was true in the 1860s, and again in 1954, is true today: Equality requires acknowledgment of inequality.’ The majority’s disregard for precedent and history must be seen for what they are: a means to the majority’s sought-after partisan end, at the expense of people of color and the promise of a multiracial democracy in this country.”

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
The American Constitution Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan legal organization. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, advocates, and many others, our mission is to support and advocate for laws and legal systems that strengthen our democratic legitimacy, uphold the rule of law, and redress the founding failures of our Constitution and enduring inequities in our laws in pursuit of realized equality. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org or on Twitter @acslaw.