Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf
Page Number: 191.0

52  STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC. v. PRESIDENT 

AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE 
SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

Constructors,  Inc.,  515  U. S.,  at  237).    Indeed,  the  Court 
gives the game away when it holds that, to the extent re-
spondents are actually measuring their diversity objectives
with any level of specificity (for example, with a “focus on 
numbers” or specific “numerical commitment”), their plans 
are  unconstitutional.  Ante,  at  30–31;  see  also  ante,  at  29 
(THOMAS, J., concurring) (“I highly doubt any [university] 
will be able to” show a “measurable state interest”). 

3 
The Court also holds that Harvard’s and UNC’s race-
conscious programs are unconstitutional because they rely
on racial categories that are “imprecise,” “opaque,” and “ar-
bitrary.”  Ante,  at  25.  To  start,  the  racial  categories  that
the  Court  finds  troubling  resemble  those  used  across  the 
Federal Government for data collection, compliance report-
ing,  and  program  administration  purposes,  including,  for 
example,  by  the  U. S.  Census  Bureau.    See,  e.g.,  62  Fed. 
Reg. 58786–58790 (1997).  Surely, not all “ ‘federal grant-in-
aid  benefits,  drafting  of  legislation,  urban  and  regional
planning, business planning, and academic and social stud-
ies’ ”  that  flow  from  census  data  collection,  Department  of 
Commerce v. New York, 588 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., 
at 2), are constitutionally suspect.

The majority presumes that it knows better and appoints 
itself as an expert on data collection methods, calling for a
higher  level  of  granularity  to  fix  a  supposed  problem  of 
overinclusiveness and underinclusiveness.  Yet it does not 
identify a single instance where respondents’ methodology 
has prevented any student from reporting their race with
the level of detail they preferred.  The record shows that it 
is up to students to choose whether to identify as one, mul-
tiple,  or  none  of  these  categories.  See  Harvard  I,  397 
F. Supp. 3d, at 137; UNC, 567 F. Supp. 3d, at 596.  To the 
extent students need to convey additional information, stu-
dents  can  select  subcategories  or  provide  more  detail  in