Biden Criticizes Affirmative Action Ruling: ‘This Is Not a Normal Court’

Akayla Gardner, Jennifer Jacobs and Jordan Fabian
·4 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden offered some of his strongest criticism of the Supreme Court after it rejected the use of affirmative action in college admissions and directed his administration to help ensure diversity at the nation’s institutions of higher learning.

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“This is not a normal court,” Biden said Thursday at the White House, when asked if the court had gone “rogue.”

The ruling upended decades of precedent and will inject the debate over race-conscious admissions policies into a 2024 presidential contest where Republicans have already targeted efforts by corporations or schools to advance political or social-justice causes.

“Today, the court once again walked away from decades of precedent,” Biden said. “The court has effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions and I strongly, strongly disagree with the court’s decision.”

“We cannot let this decision to be the last word,” he added. “Discrimination still exists in America. Today’s decision does not change that.”

Biden’s criticism was some of his sharpest yet of the conservative-majority court. Biden last June said the majority had made “terrible decisions,” a day after it struck down the constitutional right to abortion. But he has largely refrained from bashing the court as an institution.

A former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden is a traditionalist who has resisted throwing his support behind sweeping changes to the Supreme Court. As a candidate and as president, he bucked left-wing pressure to back expanding the bench or imposing term limits on justices.

A Supreme Court commission he appointed in 2021 endorsed smaller-scale reforms surrounding transparency and ethics, and even those calls have been mostly ignored by the White House.

Administration Steps

Before delivering his remarks, the president was briefed by the White House counsel and convened a meeting of senior staffers whose work relates to the issue, according to a White House official.

Biden ordered the Department of Education to find ways to build “more inclusive and diverse student bodies” and urged colleges and universities to consider “the adversity a student has overcome when selecting among qualified applicants.” He also said the Education Department should scrutinize practices such as legacy admissions “that expand privilege instead of opportunity.”

Factors admissions offices should consider include a student’s high school education, financial means and personal experiences with discrimination or hardship in the admissions process when weighing already qualified applicants, according to an Education Department fact sheet.

The administration will provide college administrators with resources on what admissions practices and programs remain lawful within the next 45 days and convene a national summit next month on educational opportunity. Following the summit the Education Department will produce a report by September on ways to increase diversity.

“They should not abandon their commitment to ensure student bodies of diverse backgrounds and experience that reflect all of America,” Biden said of the nation’s higher learning institutions.

Landmark Ruling

The Supreme Court ruling involved two cases challenging affirmative action programs — one centered on the University of North Carolina and another on Harvard College — brought by Students for Fair Admissions, a group claiming those policies violate the constitution. The group says its members include students denied admission to those schools.

The justices voted 6-3, on ideological lines, rejecting the schools’ claims their policies were needed to ensure campus diversity. The court’s majority effectively overturned a 2003 decision that had affirmed the right of universities to consider race as an admissions factor.

The majority opinion was written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The ruling could mean fewer Black and Hispanic students at top universities and force hundreds of schools to revamp their admissions policies. Legal experts have predicted the impact of the ruling could go well beyond universities, affecting how businesses and other employers outside of academia implement diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Dozens of major US companies, including Alphabet Inc.’s Google, General Electric Co., and JetBlue Airways Corp. warned in a brief to the court that losing affirmative action would hurt their pipelines for finding diverse, qualified workers.

Thursday’s decision is a blow to key elements of Biden’s bloc, the Black voters and progressives who helped him win the White House and are crucial to his reelection hopes — but whose support for the president has weakened.

Republican presidential candidates quickly lauded the court’s decision.

Former President Donald Trump called it “a great day for America.”

“People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our country, are finally being rewarded. This is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing,” Trump said in a statement.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, in a statement, said he was “pleased that the Supreme Court has put an end to this egregious violation of civil and constitutional rights in admissions processes, which only served to perpetuate racism.”

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said the justices reaffirmed American values of “freedom and opportunity.”

“Picking winners and losers based on race is fundamentally wrong,” Haley said in a statement.

--With assistance from Greg Stohr and Ryan Teague Beckwith.

(Updates with new background, details from sixth paragraph)

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