Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_l6gn.pdf
Page Number: 127

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

21 

GORSUCH, J., concurring 

Clause requires any consideration of race to satisfy “strict
scrutiny,” meaning it must be “narrowly tailored to further
compelling governmental interests.”  Grutter, 539 U. S., at 
326 (internal quotation marks omitted).  Outside the con-
text  of  higher  education,  “our  precedents  have  identified 
only  two”  interests  that  meet  this  demanding  standard:
“remediating specific, identified instances of past discrimi-
nation  that  violated  the  Constitution  or  a  statute,”  and 
“avoiding  imminent  and  serious  risks  to  human  safety  in
prisons.”  Ante, at 15 (opinion for the Court). 

Within  higher  education,  however,  an  entirely  distinct
set of rules emerged.  Following Bakke, this Court declared 
that judges may simply “defer” to a school’s assertion that 
“diversity is essential” to its “educational mission.”  Grutter, 
539 U. S., at 328.  Not all schools, though—elementary and 
secondary schools apparently do not qualify for this defer-
ence.  See Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle 
School Dist. No. 1, 551 U. S. 701, 724–725 (2007).  Only col-
leges and universities, the Court explained, “occupy a spe-
cial  niche  in  our  constitutional  tradition.”    Grutter,  539 
U. S., at 329.  Yet even they (wielding their “special niche” 
authority) cannot simply assert an interest in diversity and 
discriminate as they please.  Fisher, 579 U. S., at 381.  In-
stead, they may consider race only as a “plus” factor for the 
purpose  of  “attaining  a  critical  mass  of  underrepresented
minority  students”  or  “a  diverse  student  body.”    Grutter, 
539 U. S., at 335–336 (internal quotation marks omitted). 
At the same time, the Court cautioned, this practice “must
have a logical end point.”  Id., at 342.  And in the meantime, 
“outright  racial  balancing”  and  “quota  system[s]”  remain 
“patently  unconstitutional.”    Id.,  at  330,  334.  Nor  may  a
college  or  university  ever  provide  “mechanical,  predeter-
mined  diversity  bonuses.”  Id.,  at  337  (internal  quotation 
marks  omitted).    Only  a  “tip”  or  “plus”  is  constitutionally
tolerable, and only for a limited time.  Id., at 338–339, 341. 
If  you  cannot  follow  all  these  twists  and  turns,  you  are