Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_l6gn.pdf
Page Number: 39.0

Cite as:  600 U. S. ____ (2023) 

31 

Opinion of the Court 

at 821–822. 

The results of the Harvard admissions process reflect this
numerical commitment.  For the admitted classes of 2009 
to 2018, black students represented a tight band of 10.0%–
11.7% of the admitted pool.  The same theme held true for 
other minority groups: 

Brief  for  Petitioner  in  No.  20–1199  etc.,  p.  23.    Harvard’s 
focus on numbers is obvious.7 
—————— 

7 The  principal  dissent  claims  that  “[t]he  fact  that  Harvard’s  racial 
shares of admitted applicants varies relatively little . . . is unsurprising
and reflects the fact that the racial makeup of Harvard’s applicant pool 
also  varies  very  little  over  this  period.”    Post,  at  35  (opinion  of 
SOTOMAYOR, J.) (internal quotation marks omitted).  But that is exactly
the point: Harvard must use precise racial preferences year in and year
out to maintain the unyielding demographic composition of its class.  The 
dissent is thus left to attack the numbers themselves, arguing they were
“handpicked”  “from  a  truncated  period.”    Ibid.,  n.  29  (opinion  of
SOTOMAYOR, J.).  As supposed proof, the dissent notes that the share of