Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf
Page Number: 45

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

37 

Opinion of the Court 

missions programs “must have reasonable durational lim-
its” and that their “deviation from the norm of equal treat-
ment” must be “a temporary matter.”  539 U. S., at 342.  The 
Court also disclaimed “[e]nshrining a permanent justifica-
tion for racial preferences.”  Ibid.  Yet the justification for
race-based admissions that the dissent latches on to is just
that—unceasing. 

The principal dissent’s reliance on Fisher II is similarly
mistaken.  There, by a 4-to-3 vote, the Court upheld a “sui 
generis”  race-based  admissions  program  used  by  the  Uni-
versity of  Texas, 579 U. S., at 377, whose “goal” it  was to 
enroll a “critical mass” of certain minority students, Fisher 
I, 570 U. S., at 297.  But neither Harvard nor UNC claims 
to be using the critical mass concept—indeed, the universi-
ties admit they do not even know what it means.  See 1 App.
in  No.  21–707,  at 402  (“[N]o  one  has  directed  anybody  to 
achieve  a  critical  mass,  and  I’m  not  even  sure  we  would 
know what it is.” (testimony of UNC administrator)); 3 App. 
in No. 20–1199, at 1137–1138 (similar testimony from Har-
vard administrator). 

Fisher  II  also  recognized  the  “enduring  challenge”  that
race-based admissions systems place on “the constitutional 
promise of equal treatment.”  579 U. S., at 388.  The Court 
thus reaffirmed the “continuing obligation” of universities 
“to  satisfy  the  burden  of  strict  scrutiny.”    Id.,  at  379.  To 
drive the point home, Fisher II limited itself just as Grutter 
had—in duration.  The Court stressed that its decision did 
“not necessarily mean the University may rely on the same 
policy” going forward.  579 U. S., at 388 (emphasis added); 
see also Fisher I, 570 U. S., at 313 (recognizing that “Grut-
ter . . . approved the plan at issue upon concluding that it 
. . . was limited in time”).  And the Court openly acknowl-