High Court OKs State Bans on Affirmative Action; States Can Ban Racial Priority in Col. Admissions

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt another blow to affirmative action programs today (April 22, 2014), upholding the right of states to ban racial preferences in university admissions, the USA Today website reports.

The 6-2 decision came in a case brought by Michigan, where a voter-approved initiative banning affirmative action had been tied up in court for a decade.

Seven other states -- California, Florida, Washington, Arizona, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and New Hampshire -- already have similar bans. Today's Supreme Court decision is expected to convince many more states to end their affirmative action programs.

Chief Justice John Roberts -- an opponent of affirmative action preferences -- is famous for writing in another case several years ago that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." In other words, preference for minorities must be eliminated, as must also be the case for discriminating against minorities, and all candidates for positions should be selected on the basis of merit, not on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or other similar factor.