US Supreme Court curbs consideration of race in university admissions

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The US Supreme Court has curbed universities’ ability to consider race in admissions, a ruling that could have far-reaching consequences for diversity policies at employers across the country.

The decision on Thursday comes in two of the most high-profile cases heard by the Supreme Court this term. The cases against the University of North Carolina, a public university, and Harvard University, the private Ivy League institution, were brought by Students for Fair Admissions, a non-profit seeking to abolish racial considerations in admissions.

Students for Fair Admissions had argued the practice has benefited black and Hispanic students to the detriment of Asian Americans and others.

The court’s six conservative justices ruled that affirmative action in the school’s admissions programme could not be “reconciled” with the US Constitution’s equal protection clause. The three liberal justices dissented.

This is a developing story