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The Supreme Court was presented with the case of Fischer vs… The University of Texas where Abigail Fisher was suing the University for discrimination in their affirmative action based admissions process. The Supreme Court voted 7-1 and ruled to send the case back to the lower courts for further review and put off making any final decisions to change the U. S. Policy on affirmative action, a “longstanding but fragile societal compromise, one that forbids quotas but allows using race as one factor among many in the admissions process” (Laptop).
Both articles discussed in length the constitutionality of the race-based admissions process as well as explaining the Supreme Court’s position on the matter. The justices made statements that explained that the admissions programs must be subject to strict scrutiny where the it can be determined that classification based on gender, race and ethnicity occurs for the sole purpose Of creating a diverse student population. The programs that use affirmative action in public universities are being scrutinized to ensure that their methods are a means to an end and serve to create diversity only.
This issue will come before the Supreme Court again in the future and there will most likely be a more permanent ruling on the matter. The scripture passage that I found that think applies very directly to the issue of affirmative action is from Proverbs and it is as follows “varying weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good” (Prep 20:23). This passage is very clear in its message. It tells us that it is wrong to give unfair advantage to one person or group. This message concerns me however because I believe that it is too black and white.
I think that the problem of affirmative action is incredibly complicated and it cannot be understood or judged race-neutral to avoid discrimination and a “false scale”. I think that an important factor to consider when thinking about this issue is the constitutionality of it, and the ideas behind it. Both articles went into detail about why exactly affirmative action is constitutional despite the fact that discrimination based on race is unlawful. This is because the sole purpose of affirmative action is to create an academically and culturally diverse population of students at public universities.
I think that it is true that this is important but I agree with the Supreme Court Justices that there needs to be a strict scrutiny of each of the universities that use this policy to ensure that they are making use of race-based admission for the right reasons and that they are not denying qualified students to make room for unqualified students. It feels unjust to me that certain students receive preferential treatment in the admissions process because of their background and race. When you think about that it feels incredibly unfair and seems to go against he ideals of equality and acceptance that America stands for.
When I think about it, I find myself getting mad because I do not think that Affirmative action is constitutional or acceptable but when I take a Step back from the issue I know that it is for a good purpose. Hopefully in the future affirmative action will not be necessary and colleges can achieve diversity while maintaining a race-neutral admissions policy. The passage that took from the pastoral letter was from paragraph 84 on the subject of education: “All persons have a right to receive a quality Education.