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14  STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC. v. PRESIDENT 

AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE 
Opinion of the Court 

against any citizen because of his race.’ ”  Bolling v. Sharpe, 
347  U. S.  497,  499  (1954)  (quoting  Gibson  v.  Mississippi, 
162 U. S. 565, 591 (1896) (Harlan, J., for the Court)).  As we 
recounted  in  striking  down  the  State  of  Virginia’s  ban  on
interracial marriage 13 years after Brown, the Fourteenth 
Amendment “proscri[bes] . . . all invidious racial discrimi-
nations.”  Loving  v.  Virginia,  388  U. S.  1,  8  (1967).    Our 
cases had thus “consistently denied the constitutionality of
measures which restrict the rights of citizens on account of 
race.”  Id., at 11–12; see also Yick Wo, 118 U. S., at 373–375 
(commercial  property);  Shelley  v.  Kraemer,  334  U. S.  1 
(1948) (housing covenants); Hernandez v. Texas, 347 U. S. 
475 (1954) (composition of juries); Dawson, 350 U. S., at 877 
(beaches and bathhouses); Holmes v. Atlanta, 350 U. S. 879 
(1955)  (per curiam)  (golf  courses);  Browder,  352  U. S.,  at 
903 (busing); New Orleans City Park Improvement Assn. v. 
Detiege, 358 U. S. 54 (1958) (per curiam) (public parks); Bai-
ley v. Patterson, 369 U. S. 31 (1962) (per curiam) (transpor-
tation  facilities);  Swann  v.  Charlotte-Mecklenburg  Bd.  of 
Ed., 402 U. S. 1 (1971) (education); Batson v. Kentucky, 476 
U. S. 79 (1986) (peremptory jury strikes).

These  decisions  reflect  the  “core  purpose”  of  the  Equal
Protection  Clause:  “do[ing]  away  with  all  governmentally 
imposed discrimination based on race.”  Palmore v. Sidoti, 
466 U. S. 429, 432 (1984) (footnote omitted).  We have rec-
ognized that repeatedly.  “The clear and central purpose of 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment  was  to  eliminate  all  official 
state  sources  of  invidious  racial  discrimination  in  the 
States.”  Loving,  388  U. S.,  at  10;  see  also  Washington  v. 
Davis,  426  U. S.  229,  239  (1976)  (“The  central  purpose  of
the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
is  the  prevention  of  official  conduct  discriminating  on  the 
basis of race.”); McLaughlin v. Florida, 379 U. S. 184, 192 
(1964) (“[T]he historical fact [is] that the central purpose of
the  Fourteenth  Amendment  was  to  eliminate  racial  dis-
crimination.”).