Does the Supreme Court Order Apply to Financial Aid?

Inside Higher Ed

Scott Jaschik

July 5, 2023

In the wake of Thursday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional, many colleges issued statements. Most said that they disagreed with the ruling, but they would follow the law. Most said they would need to study the decision a bit before announcing policy changes.

Missouri is not letting them take long.

Andrew Bailey, the state’s Republican attorney general, sent a letter Thursday (the same day the decision came down) to colleges in the state, public and private, telling them they had no more time.

“In recent years, the Supreme Court has created confusion by acknowledging that racial classifications are presumptively unconstitutional while simultaneously upholding so-called ‘affirmative action’ college admission programs that systemically disfavor applicants because of race,” he said. “Today’s Supreme Court decisions against Harvard and the University of North Carolina resolve this previous contradiction.”

Specifically, Bailey said, “institutions in Missouri must implement the Supreme Court’s decisions immediately. In today’s rulings, the court held that there are no legitimate reliance interests created by past rulings that seemed to bless affirmative action. There is thus no justification for Missouri institutions to ‘grandfather’ in existing programs that disfavor applicants based on race. All Missouri programs that make admitting decisions by disfavoring individuals based on race—not just college admissions, but also scholarships, employment, law reviews, etc.—must immediately adopt race-blind standards.”

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