In rulings that broke along ideological lines, the court’s six conservative justices invalidated Harvard’s and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s (UNC) admissions practices by ruling they did not comply with the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.
The court handed down a 6-3 ruling against UNC and a 6-2 ruling against Harvard.
“The Supreme Court ruling today weakens efforts to make higher education more accessible to members of historically underrepresented groups,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “People of color have been excluded from attending medical school and joining medical organizations for generations.”
“We need more health workers, especially those who look like and share the experiences of the people they serve,” he added. “This builds trust between provider and patient, and helps to improve the overall quality of care.”
The leaders of the Association of American Medical Colleges said they were “deeply disappointed.”
“Today’s decision demonstrates a lack of understanding of the critical benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in educational settings and a failure to recognize the urgent need to address health inequities in our country,” AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, and chief legal officer Frank Trinity said in a joint statement.
James E. K. Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College, one of four medical historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S., said this decision was “potentially a step toward resegregating college campuses, and thus a problem for all socially aware institutions.”
