The Equal Protection Clause Forbids Racial Preferences in State University Admissions : A Debate
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English

Originally released by Intelligence2, 2015.

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The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that "No State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Yet many state universities give preferences to members of certain races and groups when deciding whom to admit. In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke in 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court approved such preferences but only in specific circumstances and under narrow guidelines, and the issue has come before the Court several times since. Defenders of racial preferences argue that they help level the playing field for people from historically disadvantaged groups, remedy prior discrimination, and enhance diversity within the classroom, thus redeeming the true promise of equal protection. But opponents of such preferences argue that they are in themselves discriminatory, that they stigmatize recipients as being less qualified for admission, and that they thus violate the Constitution. Does the equal protection clause forbid racial preferences in state university admissions?

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