RIGHT-WING COURT AIMS TO UNDO DECADES OF PROGRESS IN EQUITABLE EDUCATION WITH AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASES

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (October 28, 2022) — On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, where the right-wing justices have given themselves an opportunity to eliminate race-conscious admissions policies and undo decades of progress in equitable education.

Take Back the Court released the following statement on behalf of its executive director, Sarah Lipton-Lubet, on the stakes of the case:

“Affirmative action supports students of color and helps build diverse, successful learning environments that benefit all students. But the Supreme Court’s right-wing justices are gearing up to gut these policies in an effort to hinder the progress of the racial justice movement and impose a regressive and racist agenda,” said Sarah Lipton-Lubet, executive director of Take Back the Court. “The Court’s extreme right-wing justices will continue to dismantle progressive advancements in service of white supremacy until we stop them. If we want a judiciary that works to advance equity and serve the interests of the American people, we have to expand the Court.”

The conservative justices have long demonstrated their regressive positions on race and opposition to affirmative action policies, including Chief Justice Roberts’ claim that affirmative action policies “may do more harm than good,” Justice Alito’s stance that attempts to mitigate systemic barriers for Black Americans are equivalent to “systematic racial discrimination” against white Americans, and Justice Thomas’ claim — while serving on the Supreme Court — that race-conscious policies “robbed my [Yale Law Degree] of its true value.”

Read more on the stakes of these cases in Equal Justice Society and Take Back the Court’s joint report here.

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Take Back the Court raises awareness about the urgent need to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court to address the theft of the court by Senator Mitch McConnell during the Obama Administration. Without adding seats, Congress will not be able to restore the right to vote, ensure reproductive freedom, protect workers, halt our climate emergency, or pass new legislation. Court expansion, which can be accomplished without a constitutional amendment, is the only reform that enables the un-rigging of the system and the restoration of democracy. Learn more: https://www.takebackthecourt.today/