When the Supreme Court handed down its ruling on college admission affirmative action, conservatives — despite having limited elected power in the federal government — notched another major win in the most remarkable political battle in recent history.
Thursday’s decision on affirmative action comes from the Supreme Court recently making several decisions that have caused a significant impact on America’s liberal social infrastructure.
The most recent was the court’s ruling against affirmative action in college admissions.
Then the court also invalidated the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program on Friday (June 30).
Both rulings came after the court supported a Christian web designer in Colorado who declined to create websites for same-sex weddings on religious grounds, which was a setback for LGBTQ rights.
The rulings contrast Congressional victories got Democratic lawmakers in the past two decades, such as the recent court ruling to redraw Alabama’s congressional map and the rejection of a Trump-supported election law theory.
However, it appears conservatives have more momentum, thanks to the court’s conservative majority.
Despite controlling only one chamber of Congress by a narrow margin, Republicans have weakened a fundamental principle of Democratic politics. The principle — which was upheld by Democratic presidents since Franklin Roosevelt’s time —advocates for using government power to address social injustices and uplift the disadvantaged. Thursday’s ruling has dealt a blow to this principle.
The court ruled colleges could not consider race as a factor in admissions.
Many advocates argue that this policy change will negatively impact the enrollment of underrepresented Black and Latino students in higher education and suggest it’ll reintroduce racial barriers that their predecessors had worked tirelessly to eliminate.
For them, it felt like a regression to a painful past.
Thursday’s decision will have an impact on generations to come.
It is similar to last year’s ruling when the court’s conservative majority removed the constitutional right to abortion by overturning the Roe v. Wade decision that had been in place for 50 years and had shaped society.
The court’s recent rulings, particularly in cases related to religious freedom, have been influenced by the conservative judicial movement’s decades-long activism. This has resulted in a new majority that leans towards right-wing jurisprudence, pleasing conservative Christians.
Conservative legal activists made it a top priority to reshape the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court, using it as a key issue in federal elections and pushing relevant cases through lower courts to take advantage of the court’s new composition.
Now, conservative doctrine is reshaping the nature of America, with significant changes being announced in early summer morning bombshells every year.
