Twenty years after the Supreme Court ruled in Grutter v. Bollinger that the University of Michigan Law School’s consideration of race in its admissions process did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, many anticipate the current Justices may overturn or reduce the use of affirmative action. In 2003, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said, “The educational benefits that flow from student body diversity are substantiated by numerous expert studies and reports showing that such diversity promotes learning and better prepares students for an increasingly heterogeneous workforce, for responsible citizenship, and for the legal profession.”The court held that an applicant’s race may be one factor in admission to a public educational institution so long as it was one of many factors and part of an effort to increase diversity on campus rather than a fixed quota of minority students.However, the justices envisioned a future in which the need to consider race would be unnecessary. “It has been 25 years since Justice Powell first suggested approval of the use of race to further an interest in student body diversity in the context of higher education. We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest that we approve today,” said O'Connor.What is affirmative action?Since the Civil Rights Movement, race-conscious admission policies have been adopted by many academic institutions. Cornell University Law School defines affirmative action as "a set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future."Until the 1970s, Harvard College admitted fewer than 12 Black undergraduates each year, according to the Harvard Crimson. By 2022, Harvard’s undergraduate class was 10.7% Black. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill accepted four Black freshmen in 1960 and only 18 in 1963. By 2022, UNC’s undergraduate class was 10% Black.Today both Harvard and UNC are at the center of separate cases in which the Supreme Court decides if race should be a factor in the admissions process. What differentiates the 2023 cases from previous cases?Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard argues that race-based admission policies discriminate against Asian American and White students. While the Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina argues that race-based admission policies discriminate against Asian American students only. This is not the first time that Asian American students have been considered in an affirmative action case. In 2016, Justice Alito dissented from the majority opinion in Fisher v. University of Texas and made sharp criticisms of UT’s practices. “Classes with no Asian American students outnumber classes with no Hispanic students. If the University's plan discriminates against Asian American students, how can such a plan be said to promote classroom diversity?” said Justice Samuel Alito.The common link in all three cases is Edward Blum, a conservative strategist and president of the special interest group Students for Fair Admissions, who has now brought a total of eight anti-affirmative action cases before the Supreme Court. SFFA’S complaint alleges “Harvard intentionally and artificially limits the number of Asian Americans to whom it will offer admission.""Asians should be getting into Harvard more than whites, but they don't because Harvard gives them significantly lower personal ratings. Harvard ranks Asians less likable, confident, and kind, even though the alumni who actually meet them disagree," Students for Fair Admissions attorney Cameron T. Norris argued during the 2022 hearing.Harvard has denied these claims. And pointed out that previous lower courts have found no evidence to support SFFA’s claim. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who represented the United States government, argued, “a blanket ban on race-conscious admissions would cause racial diversity to plummet at many of our nation’s leading educational institutions.”What to expect?From 1996-2012, eight states banned affirmative action. Since then, public perception of affirmative action has swung from one extreme to the other. According to Pew Research, in 2014, 65% of survey participants said they support affirmative action programs on campus. Compared to 2022, when 74% of those who participated in a Pew survey said they don’t believe race should be a factor in the admissions process.Yet the question remains, what will become of educational institutions if the court strikes down affirmative action? The Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision by June 2023. Having served on a Harvard board of overseers, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has recused herself from the Harvard case. She will, however, be voting in the UNC case.