Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_l6gn.pdf
Page Number: 93.0

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

45 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

broadly,  universities’  discriminatory  policies  burden  mil-
lions of applicants who are not responsible for the racial dis-
crimination  that  sullied  our  Nation’s  past.  That  is  why,
“[i]n  the  absence  of  special  circumstances,  the  remedy  for 
de jure  segregation  ordinarily  should  not  include  educa-
tional  programs  for  students  who  were  not  in  school  (or
even alive) during the period of segregation.”  Jenkins, 515 
U. S.,  at  137  (THOMAS,  J.,  concurring).  Today’s  17-year-
olds, after all, did not live through the Jim Crow era, enact 
or enforce segregation laws, or take any action to oppress or
enslave the victims of the past.  Whatever their skin color, 
today’s youth simply are not responsible for instituting the 
segregation of the 20th century, and they do not shoulder 
the moral debts of their ancestors.  Our Nation should not 
punish today’s youth for the sins of the past. 

IV 
Far from advancing the cause of improved race relations
in our Nation, affirmative action highlights our racial dif-
ferences with pernicious effect.  In fact, recent history re-
veals  a  disturbing  pattern:  Affirmative  action  policies  ap-
pear  to  have  prolonged  the  asserted  need  for  racial
discrimination.  Parties  and  amici  in  these  cases  report 
that, in the nearly 50 years since Bakke, 438 U. S. 265, ra-
cial progress on campuses adopting affirmative action ad-
missions policies has stagnated, including making no mean-
ingful progress toward a colorblind goal since Grutter.  See 
ante, at 21–22.  Rather, the legacy of Grutter appears to be 
ever increasing and strident demands for yet more racially 
oriented solutions. 

A 
It has become clear that sorting by race does not stop at 
the admissions office.  In his Grutter opinion, Justice Scalia 
criticized universities for “talk[ing] of multiculturalism and