Black Caucus says Supreme Court has ‘thrown into question its own legitimacy’ with affirmative action ruling

The Congressional Black Caucus in a scathing statement Thursday said the Supreme Court called its legitimacy into question with a ruling upending the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

The CBC called that decision “radical” and argued it could hurt the chances of minority students from getting opportunities to advance themselves.

“By delivering a decision on affirmative action so radical as to deny young people seeking an education equal opportunity in our education system, the Supreme Court has thrown into question its own legitimacy,” the statement said.

“Unfortunately, we have seen backlash to progress many times throughout our nation’s history. … We didn’t stop fighting for equality then and we won’t stop now because too much is at stake to allow extremists to turn back the clock on progress,” it continued.

The court, in a pair of decisions, struck down admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, arguing the policies did not comply with the 14th Amendment.

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More on the Supreme Court’s ruling from The Hill

• Supreme Court upends affirmative action in college admissions
• READ: Supreme Court’s affirmative action majority opinion
• Sotomayor’s biting dissent: Ruling rolls back ‘decades of precedent and momentous progress’
• Five things to know about Supreme Court’s decision to curtail college affirmative action
• Al Sharpton rips SCOTUS for ‘sticking a dagger in our back’ on affirmative action

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The court’s six conservatives were in the majority. The court’s liberals dissented, though Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recused herself from the case involving Harvard because she served on the school’s board of overseers.

The CBC argued in its statement that the 1978 University of California v. Bakke decision gave students an opportunity at advancement knocked down by subsequent court actions, culminating in Thursday’s decision.

“Precedents set decades ago in the landmark Bakke decision have given students — regardless of their race or ethnicity — a better chance at equal admissions to our nation’s top schools, and our country has been made better for it,” the group said in its statement.