The U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments recently in a pair of high-profile cases involving legal challenges brought against affirmative action admissions programs at the University of North Carolina (a public institution) and at Harvard University (a private institution), respectively. The plaintiffs, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), argue that the consideration of race used in each admissions program is unlawful, and are asking the High Court to overturn more than 40 years of legal precedent that permits the limited consideration of race to achieve student body diversity in higher education.
Perhaps not surprisingly, given the possibility that the Court’s conservative majority might agree with the plaintiffs, we have received a fair number of calls from employers asking about the potential impact these cases might have on the future of private sector affirmative action programs, including on the affirmative action requirements enforced by the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).
Bottom line, we think it is unlikely that either the Harvard or University of North Carolina decisions will have any direct impact on private sector affirmative action programs, although depending on the scope of the rulings these programs could be at some legal risk in the future.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.