Supreme Court

Students and supporters of affirmative action also descended on the Supreme Court, pledging to continue fighting to make higher education accessible to students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Justices deem admissions programs at both Harvard and UNC Chapel Hill to be unconstitutional. But decision did say applicants can write about their experiences with racism, if colleges follow the rules.

The university’s decision to waive tuition for lower-income North and South Carolinians is officially about equity. But its potential as a recruitment tool for underserved students connects it to affirmative action’s fate.

Could percentage plans work? What about admitting more transfer students from community colleges?

They questioned the Biden administration’s authority to forgive student loans but also seemed suspicious of arguments from plaintiffs that they have standing to challenge the debt-relief plan.

The legal battle over President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program has reached the Supreme Court, which will decide whether the administration has the authority to forgive the loans and whether the plaintiffs have standing to sue.

If the parties challenging the plan can’t clear the standing threshold, then the Supreme Court justices shouldn’t consider the other arguments that the debt-relief plan is illegal. But that might not stop the conservative justices from striking down loan forgiveness.

Executive overreach or legal use of statutory authority? That will be a key question for the U.S. Supreme Court to consider when it hears arguments in two debt-relief lawsuits early this year.