In two rulings on Thursday, the Supreme Court upended affirmative action in college admissions, setting off anger and criticism across the country.
But, the Supreme Court also included a footnote that exempts military academies from the decision reversing race-conscious admissions policy, which prompted even more fury from liberals and opponents of the ruling.
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) tweeted that the ruling was “deeply upsetting but outright grotesque for exempting military academies.”
“The court is saying diversity shouldn’t matter, EXCEPT when deciding who can fight and die for our country—reinforcing the notion that these communities can sacrifice for America but not be full participants in every other way,” Crow wrote.
In the high court’s footnote, concurring justices wrote that “no military academy is a party to these cases, however, and none of the courts below addressed the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context.”
“This opinion also does not address the issue, in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present,” they said.
In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the military academy “carveout only highlights the arbitrariness of its decision.”
“And further proves that the Fourteenth Amendment does not categorically prohibit the use of race in college admissions,” she wrote.
The Supreme Court determination, based off a pair of cases before the court, will now severely limit the use of race as a factor in college admissions.
Supportive justices said admission practices from Harvard and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did not comply with the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.
The Harvard ruling was 6-2 and the North Carolina ruling was 6-3, with the court’s conservative justices ruling to overturn affirmative action in higher education and the liberal justices ruling against.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recused herself from the Harvard case.
Affirmative action in higher education was grounded in a 1978 opinion from Justice Lewis Powell, who upheld race-conscious admissions.
It was reaffirmed three times by the high court.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
