President Joe Biden slammed the Supreme Court’s ruling undercutting affirmative action programs in higher education during a speech at the White House on Thursday.
“This is not a normal court,” Biden said in response to a question from a reporter following his remarks.
“The truth is, we all know it, discrimination still exists in America … today’s decision does not change that,” Biden said during his White House speech. He proposed “a new standard,” within the college admissions process, “where colleges take into account the adversity a student has overcome,” and pledged to have the Department of Education look into ways to promote diversity within the country’s education system.
But when it comes to reforming the high court, expanding the number of justices would be a “mistake,” Biden said during an interview on MSNBC on Thursday afternoon.
“[It] doesn’t make sense because it can become so politicized in the future,” Biden told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace during a live interview — his first such format since becoming president. “I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy,” Biden added.
The remarks came hours after the Supreme Court
In the 6-3 opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court found that the universities discriminated against white and Asian American applicants by using race-conscious admissions policies that benefited applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.
Roberts was joined by the court’s five conservative justices, with the three liberal justices dissenting. The chief justice noted in his decision that the court was not prohibiting schools from considering applicants’ experiences related to race, but emphasized that this should not create a loophole for explicit consideration of race.
“Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise,” Roberts wrote. “But, despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today.”
