Supreme Court hears affirmative action cases that could impact decades of precedent

Published October 31, 2022 at 12:20 PM EDT

Proponents for affirmative action in higher education rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 31, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

On Monday, the Supreme Court hears arguments in two cases with major implications for whether race can be used as one factor in college admissions.

The cases look at race-conscious admissions programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University. The court has upheld similar programs in the past, but the court’s new conservative 6-3 super-majority could end the practice, reversing decades of precedent.

Here & Now‘s Deepa Fernandes speaks with Emily Bazelon, senior research scholar at Yale Law School and staff writer for The New York Times Magazine.

And, Edward Blum is the conservative activist behind the group Students for Fair Admissions, which sued Harvard and the University of North Carolina in cases before the Supreme Court.

New York Times national reporter Anemona Hartocollis describes Blum as a “one-man legal factory” trying to “erase racial preferences from American life.” Host Fernandes speaks with Hartocollis, who has profiled Blum.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.