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38  STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC. v. PRESIDENT 

AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE 
THOMAS, J., concurring 

would “necessarily result . . . [i]n the abandoning of many
of the state’s existing educational establishments” and the
“crowding of other such establishments”); Brief for State of
Kansas  on  Reargument  in  Brown  v.  Board  of  Education, 
O. T. 1953, No. 1, p. 56 (“We grant that segregation may not 
be the ethical or political ideal.  At the same time we recog-
nize that practical considerations may prevent realization 
of  the  ideal”);  Tr.  of  Oral  Arg.  in  Davis  v.  School  Bd.  of 
Prince Edward Cty., O. T. 1954, No. 3, p. 208 (“We are up
against  the  proposition:  What  does  the  Negro  profit  if  he 
procures an immediate detailed decree from this Court now
and then impairs or mars or destroys the public school sys-
tem in Prince Edward County”).  Litigants have even gone
so far as to offer straight-faced arguments that segregation
has practical benefits.  Brief for Respondents in Sweatt v. 
Painter, at 77–78 (requesting deference to a state law, ob-
serving  that  “ ‘the  necessity  for  such  separation  [of  the
races]  still  exists  in  the  interest  of  public  welfare,  safety, 
harmony, health, and recreation . . .’ ” and remarking on the
reasonableness of the position); Brief for Appellees in Davis 
v. County School Bd. of Prince Edward Cty., O. T. 1952, No. 
3,  p. 17  (“Virginia  has  established  segregation  in  certain
fields as a part of her public policy to prevent violence and 
reduce  resentment.    The  result,  in  the  view  of  an  over-
whelming Virginia majority, has been to improve the rela-
tionship between the different races”); id., at 25 (“If segre-
gation  be  stricken  down,  the  general  welfare  will  be
definitely  harmed  . . .  there  would  be  more  friction  devel-
oped” (internal quotation marks omitted)).  In fact, slave-
holders once “argued that slavery was a ‘positive good’ that 
civilized  blacks  and  elevated  them  in  every  dimension  of 
life,” and “segregationists similarly asserted that segrega-
tion  was  not  only  benign,  but  good  for  black  students.” 
Fisher I, 570 U. S., at 328–329 (THOMAS, J., concurring).

“Indeed,  if  our  history  has  taught  us  anything,  it  has