President Joe Biden on Thursday slammed the Supreme Court's ruling doing away with race-based affirmative action programs at universities, saying that "this is not a normal court" and accusing the right-wing majority of working to strip Americans of their rights.
But according to CNN, he had been expecting this outcome for months, and was preparing — drafting new guidelines for college admissions that intended to preserve equal opportunity for underprivileged groups without direct consideration of race.
"Biden on Thursday directed the Department of Education to develop a list of best admissions practices to help colleges and universities maintain their commitment to diversity despite the ruling. Biden administration officials are working to finalize additional actions," reported Jeremy Diamond, Kevin Liptak, and Arlette Saenz. "'They should not abandon their commitment to ensure student bodies of diverse backgrounds and experience that reflect all of America,' Biden said of universities on Thursday, reacting to the ruling."
The president doesn't have power to override the Court on this issue, and ruled out expanding the Court in retaliation to the ruling — but there are other options available to him, and to schools wishing to preserve an equitable admissions process.
"Officials from the Domestic Policy Council, the Office of Public Engagement and the White House Counsel’s office worked with the Department of Justice and Department of Education to develop contingency plans and potential executive actions, White House officials said," the report continued. "Within the next 45 days, the Department of Education and Department of Justice will provide colleges and universities with resources to determine what admissions practices are and are not lawful. And as it drafts a report on admissions strategies for increasing diversity without affirmative action, the Department of Education will also convene a summit on educational opportunity that will include student leaders, researchers and university administrators."
The Court itself did outline limited ongoing consideration of race in admissions, with Chief Justice Roberts saying schools could review the life experiences of an applicant due to their race, on an individualized basis. Some schools may also substitute economic considerations for racial ones, as some past studies have suggested this could be effective.
