Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/11-345_l5gm.pdf
Page Number: 34

Cite as:  570 U. S. ____ (2013) 

17 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

suffice”).  The  University’s  professed  good  intentions  can-
not  excuse  its  outright  racial  discrimination  any  more 
than  such  intentions  justified  the  now  denounced  argu-
ments of slaveholders and segregationists. 

B 
While  it  does  not,  for  constitutional  purposes,  matter 
whether the University’s racial discrimination is benign, I
note  that  racial  engineering  does  in  fact  have  insidious 
consequences.  There can be no doubt that the University’s
discrimination injures white and Asian applicants who are
denied admission because of their race.  But I believe the 
injury  to  those  admitted  under  the  University’s  discrimi-
natory admissions program is even more harmful. 

Blacks  and  Hispanics  admitted  to  the  University  as  a
result  of  racial  discrimination  are,  on  average,  far  less 
prepared  than  their  white  and  Asian  classmates.    In  the 
University’s  entering  class  of  2009,  for  example,  among 
the  students  admitted  outside  the  Top  Ten  Percent  plan, 
blacks  scored  at  the  52d  percentile  of  2009  SAT  takers 
nationwide,  while  Asians  scored  at  the  93d  percentile. 
Brief  for  Richard  Sander  et al.  as  Amici  Curiae  3–4,  and 
n. 4.  Blacks  had  a  mean  GPA  of  2.57  and  a  mean  SAT 
score  of  1524;  Hispanics  had  a  mean  GPA  of  2.83  and  a
mean SAT score of 1794; whites had a mean GPA of 3.04 
and  a  mean  SAT  score  of  1914;  and  Asians  had  a  mean 
GPA of 3.07 and a mean SAT score of 1991.4  Ibid. 

Tellingly, neither the University nor any of the 73 amici 
briefs  in  support  of  racial  discrimination  has  presented  a 
shred  of  evidence  that  black  and  Hispanic  students  are 
able to close this substantial gap during their time at the
University.  Cf. Thernstrom & Thernstrom, Reflections on 
the Shape of the River, 46 UCLA L. Rev. 1583, 1605–1608 
(1999)  (discussing  the  failure  of  defenders  of  racial  dis-

—————— 

4 The lowest possible score on the SAT is 600, and the highest possi-

ble score is 2400.