Biden Admin Urges Supreme Court to Abandon Trump-Era Challenge to Harvard’s Admission Policies

The Biden administration is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to abandon a Trump-era legal challenge alleging that Harvard College’s admission policies discriminate against Asian-American applicants.

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar filed a brief encouraging the Supreme Court not take the case, arguing that lower courts were correct in inferring that Harvard’s race-based admissions process is legal.

The Biden administration’s position abandons arguments the Justice Department made previously during the Trump administration, when it supported the lawsuit against Harvard. https://t.co/UnSshVZn29

— Sadie Gurman (@sgurman) December 9, 2021

The move by Prelogar means the government is now taking the opposite position of that which the government had taken under the Trump administration.

Supreme Court justices are now considering whether to hear the legal challenge alleging racial discrimination in Harvard’s admission policies. The Supreme Court may say early next year if it will choose to get involved.

Typically, once the government has already taken a position, the Supreme Court acts on that decision, rather than reverse course simply because a new administration has come in and decided to backtrack on the position, a lawyer told Breitbart News.

In June, the Supreme Court considered the challenge to Harvard’s racial preferences during college admissions. The case would have profound implications for the woke culture in academia and even corporate America.

The case dates back to 2014, when Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) — led by the group’s president Edward Blum — filed a lawsuit alleging the Ivy League university’s undergraduate admissions practices violated federal civil rights law.

The group said Harvard held Asian-American applicants to a higher standard, which artificially limited the number of Asian-American applicants the school accepted.

Harvard claims it did not discriminate against Asian-Americans and claimed it believes race to be one of many factors it considers when trying to put together a diverse student body.

On Wednesday, Harvard said in a statement that the Biden administration’s position affirmed that schools “should have the freedom and flexibility to consider race, as one factor among many, to create the diverse campus communities essential to their educational missions and to the success of their students in the workplace and the world.”

The case is Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, No. 20-1199 in the Supreme Court of the United States.

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