Blum argues that UNC and Harvard use a quota cap percentage for Asian-American admissions despite outperforming other applicants, stating that the schools engage in racial balancing bias to maintain a specific racial breakdown and diversity, according to a report from Voxadding that Harvard argues that each applicant is individually processed on multiple factors as a “holistic review,” to create a diverse class.

The 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court may favor ending more than 40 years of precedent law, ending affirmative action programs for higher education, and changing the academic admission landscape.

“The conservative wing of the court harped on the lack of clarity around when the need for affirmative action would end,” CNN reported after Monday’s hearingadding that judge Sonia Sotomayor argued that out of the nine states that have ended affirmative action programs the admission process in higher education “have reported data in a decrease in underrepresented groups in some institutions while white students admissions have remained the same and in some cases increased.”

Affirmative action bans have already been implemented in nine states, including California (1996), Washington (1998), Florida (1999), Michigan (2006), Nebraska (2008), Arizona (2010), New Hampshire (2012), Oklahoma ( 2012) and Idaho in (2020).

“Far too many “affirmative action” programs have become a meaningless routine where proponents see them as “leveling the field” and opponents as giving others an advantage in challenging what they think of as their own,” said Professor Mary Gray from the American University in Washing DC, a statistician and lawyer that specializes in applications of statistics to human rights, economic equity, legal issues and education.

“I don’t believe in unconscious discrimination – most discrimination is all too conscious, and perpetrators are permitted to get away with it.” For example, Gray explains if a woman or person of color is occasionally elected to Congress or appointed to the bench, it does not make up for the daily micro-aggressions that many women and minorities face daily.”

“Do I have a solution?” she asked. “No, but in 250 years (we) have moved beyond the Constitution’s view of the world except for six Justices — but a lot more work is needed at all levels of society.”

Victor Goode, a retired faculty member at the Cuny School of Law, weighed in on Monday’s hearing and said, “I wasn’t surprised by the arguments or the justice’s responses to them.”

“Affirmative action, at its core, was simply a recognition that societal racism in its myriad forms does collective harm and requires a collective remedy, and no one, except for Judge Clarence Thomas, suggested diversity was a bad thing, but all seemed to hold on to the idea that diversity as ‘forced integration’ did more harm than good.”

“I ultimately think it’s unlikely that from the three Trump appointees that there are not at least two additional votes to join the three that have already decided to overturn the precedent Grutter law case,” he added. “We may see a concurring option or two, indicating what race-related factors, short of full consideration of race, might be acceptable in the admissions process. But I think the only real question is whether Chief Justice John Roberts or Judge Clarence Thomas will write the majority opinion.”

“My bet is on Roberts, who knows he needs to demonstrate that as chief, he still has some control over the court,” Goode said.