Conservative justices may end affirmative action in college admissions — and beyond

WASHINGTON — Following last term's overturning of Roe v. Wade and an expansion of gun rights, the Supreme Court's conservatives are moving now to sharply limit or strike down affirmative action at colleges and universities.

At issue is a fundamental question about the role of race and the meaning of equality under the law.

On Monday, the court will hear challenges to the "race conscious" admissions policies at Harvard, the nation's oldest private college, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the oldest state university.

And the outcome could affect not only higher education, but potentially the workplace as well.

For more than 40 years, the court has ruled that universities have a "compelling interest" in creating a diverse student body, which justifies giving a limited preference to well-qualified applicants who are Black, Latino or Native American.

Civil rights advocates argue this affirmative action takes at most a modest step in the direction of equality