Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_l6gn.pdf
Page Number: 97

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

49 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

and identities and see each other for what we truly are: in-
dividuals  with  unique  thoughts,  perspectives,  and  goals, 
but with equal dignity and equal rights under the law. 

B 
JUSTICE JACKSON has a different view.  Rather than fo-
cusing on individuals as individuals, her dissent focuses on
the historical subjugation of black Americans, invoking sta-
tistical racial gaps to argue in favor of defining and catego-
rizing individuals by their race.  As she sees things, we are 
all  inexorably  trapped  in  a  fundamentally  racist  society, 
with the original sin of slavery and the historical subjuga-
tion  of  black  Americans  still  determining  our  lives  today. 
Post, at 1–26 (dissenting opinion).  The panacea, she coun-
sels, is to unquestioningly accede to the view of elite experts
and reallocate society’s riches by racial means as necessary 
to “level the playing field,” all as judged by racial metrics. 
Post, at 26.  I strongly disagree.

First,  as  stated  above,  any  statistical  gaps  between  the
average  wealth  of  black  and  white  Americans  is  constitu-
tionally  irrelevant.  I,  of  course,  agree  that  our  society  is 
not, and has never been, colorblind.  Post, at 2 (JACKSON, 
J., dissenting); see also Plessy, 163 U. S., at 559 (Harlan, J., 
dissenting).  People discriminate against one another for a 
whole host of reasons.  But, under the Fourteenth Amend-
ment, the law must disregard all racial distinctions: 

“[I]n view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, 
there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling
class of citizens.  There is no caste here.  Our constitu-
tion is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates clas-
ses  among citizens.    In  respect  of civil  rights,  all  citi-
zens are equal before the law.  The humblest is the peer 
of  the  most  powerful.    The  law  regards  man  as  man,
and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color 
when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law 
of the land are involved.”  Ibid.