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The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a voter-approved change to the Constitution in Michigan that forbids the public colleges in the state to take race into account when choosing applicants, according to ABC News. The decision won by a vote of 6-2 and it upheld the voter-approved edit.
“This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved. It is about who may resolve it,” Justice Anthony Kennedy said.
Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a separate opinion, but sided with Kennedy, saying that residents of Michigan want a colorblind constitution and “it would be shameful for us to stand in their way.”
Dissenting from the majority of the court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, “But without checks, democratically approved legislation can oppress minority groups.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was on the same page with Sotomayor, who said that Michigan voters “changed the basic rules of the political process in that state in a manner that uniquely disadvantaged racial minorities.”
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The other justices who voted in favor of the ruling were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
Roberts said that it “does more harm than good to question the openness and candor of those on either side of the debate.”
Justice Elena Kagan was not part of this case because she worked on it while employed at the Justice Department.
Since the ban became effective, Latino and Black enrollment at the University of Michigan has dropped.
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