Today is Thursday, June 29, 2023. Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on ending the practice of affirmative action in admission to colleges and universities that was a long-standing precedent which has benefited Black and Latino students in higher education for decades. This decision from an extremely conservative court was practically anticipated by court watchers who expected that the right-leaning justices would gut the program as they reached a resolution on the issue, and they were right. This overarching decision was covered in an online CNN article by Ariane de Vogue, Devan Cole, and Turner Sneed entitled “Supreme Court guts affirmative action in college admissions.”

“Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the conservative majority, saying the Harvard and University of North Carolina admissions programs violated the Equal Protect Clause because they failed to offer ‘measurable’ objectives to justify the use of race.” He said the programs involve racial stereotyping and had no specific end point.

The three Democratic appointees, as expected, voiced a strong dissent to the opinion which reached 6 to 3 in the majority ruling. However, in a long concurrence to the just-reached decision, the second Black person to join the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas, spoke in unusually personal terms as he criticized the use of affirmative action policies by colleges and universities, which he described as “rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes.” What Thomas failed to mention here in his concurrent opinion is the fact that Thomas himself was the recipient of affirmative action practices during the time he began his academic and professional career. This he fails to even recognize in his decades-long ascension to the highest court in the land.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Elena Sagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, issued a fiery dissent, saying the opinion “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.”

Sotomayor continued, “The devastating impact of this decision cannot be overstated.” She read her dissent while sitting on the bench.

In ending her dissent, Sotomayor quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in an attempt to end the opinion on an optimistic note. She angrily stated, “As has been the case before in the history of American democracy, ‘the arc of the moral universe’ will bend toward racial justice despite the Court’s effort to impede its progress.”

In her own dissent, Jackson, the only Black woman on the bench, accused the majority of having a “let-them-eat-cake obliviousness” in how the ruling announced “‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat.”

Jackson declared, “But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life,” as she was joined by the court’s two other liberals.

In a blistering attack on her own conservative colleagues, Jackson wrote that the majority had “detached itself from this country’s actual past and present experiences.”

This ruling today echoes the dismantling of Roe v. Wade just a year ago. So it would appear that the right can claim another pyrrhic victory, even though a majority of Americans do not support either decision.

A cacophony of Republican voices hailed the devastating decision and that is no surprise, given how backward these repugnicans really are. House Speaker Kevin “Kiss the Ring” McCarthy welcomed the affirmative action decision, saying that the justices “just ruled that no American should be denied educational opportunities because of race.” Despicable Republican Senator Ted “Ooze,” who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated, “This is a great day for all Americans.” Only you think so, jackass!

Again, the person we must thank for this setback of a decision is the former president who has been twice impeached and twice indicted, Donald J. Dumpf, who nominated three of the justices in the conservative majority. Shit!

As profoundly expected, GOP contender for president in 2024, former Vice President Mike Pence also celebrated the ruling.

The unpopular candidate within his own party said, “There is no place for discrimination based on race in the United States, and I am pleased that the Supreme Court has put an end to this egregious violation of civil and constitutional rights in admission processes, which only served to perpetuate racism.”

A more sensible and realistic analysis of the decision was provided by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer who called the decision “a giant roadblock in our country’s march toward racial justice.”

Schumer declared, “The consequences of this decision will be felt immediately and across the country, as students of color will face an admission cycle next year with fewer opportunities to attend the same colleges and universities than their parents and older siblings.”

CNN Chief Legal Analyst Laura Coates said the Supreme Court’s decision will have sweeping changes to education in this country. “This opinion, make no mistake about it, it is going to change the landscape of education, and this is what the majority has asked for.”

All I can say about this sad decision today is that this ruling has given us more ammunition for the presidential race in 2024 as the two decisions on abortion and, now, affirmative action will galvanize many angry voters to go to the ballot box next year and vote out as many candidates on the far right as possible.

This unfortunate ruling will only serve to promote more inequality in our nation’s educational institutions. As Joy Behar of The View postulated, what’s next for this out-of-step incarnation of the Supreme Court to roll back: Could it be gay rights, as she indicated today?

Even President Joe Biden weighed in on the ruling, calling the court not a normal one in an interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace. His quote is: “This court has done more to unravel basic rights than any other in recent history – it’s not normal.”

To counter what Ted Ooze said, this is definitely not a good day for America today.

Stay safe and be well.