Supreme Court Strikes Down Affirmative Action in Medical School Admissions
The Supreme Court ruled on June 29, 2023 that race can no longer be a factor in admissions decisions at public medical schools.
The case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, was brought by a group of Asian-American students who argued that Harvard’s use of race in admissions was discriminatory.
The Supreme Court’s ruling is a major blow to efforts to diversify medical schools, which have long used race as a factor in admissions to help ensure that students from all backgrounds are represented in the medical profession.
The ruling is also likely to have a ripple effect on other institutions that use race in admissions, such as law schools and universities.
The Supreme Court’s ruling was 6-3, with the conservative justices in the majority.
The dissenting justices, all liberals, argued that the ruling would make it more difficult for students from underrepresented groups to gain admission to medical school.
Harvard argued that it used race as a factor in admissions in order to create a diverse student body that would be more representative of the population it serves.
The Students for Fair Admissions argued that Harvard’s use of race was discriminatory and that it gave an unfair advantage to Asian-American applicants.
