On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court has upheld a state law that bans the use of racial criteria in determining which applicants to admit in colleges. CNN believes that the decision is key to unfolding a legal and political battle over affirmative action, or otherwise termed as positive discrimination, in the US.
The Federal Register explains that affirmative action is a set of policies that encourage equal opportunity and prevent discrimination on the basis of color, sex, religion or national origin. The Supreme Court justices voted 6-2 in a decision that that disregarded a lower court's authority to set aside the measure, which was approved by 58% of public voters in a 2006 referendum.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whom CNN noted is also the first Latina justice in US' top court, said about the decision, "For members of historically marginalized groups, which rely on the federal courts to protect their constitutional rights, the decision can hardly bolster hope for a vision of democracy that preserves for all the right to participate meaningfully and equally in self-government."
Sotomayor and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are among the justices who have dissented in the vote, while Justices Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas were part of the majority vote. Justice Elena Kagan had not taken part in the case, CNN said.
According to Kennedy, the decision to uphold the ban was about who may resolve the debate on racial preference and not how the debate should have been resolved.
The Supreme Court's decision is the latest development in the debate on whether publicly-funded colleges should be using criteria that are touted to be discriminatory in the first place as the basis for its admission, CNN said. Nonetheless, affirmative action-focused programs are bound to be phased out as the goal of achieving diversity is already met, at least in state colleges.
