Affirmative action lasted over 50 years: 3 essential reads explaining how it ended
Harvard students protesting on July 1, 2023, after the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action. Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Ever since U.S. President Lyndon Johnson enacted affirmative action in 1965, white conservatives have challenged the use of race in college admissions. Their arguments against such policies are typically based on the use of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which prohibits discrimination against American citizens on the basis of their race, religion or sexuality. According to this conservative thinking, race-based solutions are discriminatory by their very definition and, as such, are unconstitutional.