Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_l6gn.pdf
Page Number: 103.0

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

55 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

level the playing field for this new phase of racial subordi-
nation?  And then, out of whose lives should the debt owed 
to those further victims be repaid?  This vision of meeting 
social racism with government-imposed racism is thus self-
defeating, resulting in a never-ending cycle of victimization.
There is no reason to continue down that path.  In the wake 
of  the  Civil  War,  the  Framers  of  the  Fourteenth  Amend-
ment charted a way out: a colorblind Constitution that re-
quires the government to, at long last, put aside its citizens’ 
skin color and focus on their individual achievements. 

C 

Universities’ recent experiences confirm the efficacy of a 
colorblind rule.  To start, universities prohibited from en-
gaging in racial discrimination by state law continue to en-
roll racially diverse classes by race-neutral means.  For ex-
ample,  the  University  of  California  purportedly  recently
admitted  its  “most  diverse  undergraduate  class  ever,”  de-
spite California’s ban on racial preferences.  T. Watanabe, 
UC Admits Largest, Most Diverse Class Ever, But It Was
Harder To Get Accepted, L. A. Times, July 20, 2021, p. A1. 
Similarly, the University of Michigan’s 2021 incoming class
was “among the university’s most racially and ethnically di-
verse classes, with 37% of first-year students identifying as 
persons of color.”  S. Dodge, Largest Ever Student Body at 
University of Michigan This Fall, Officials Say, MLive.com 
(Oct.  22,  2021),  https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/
2021/10/largest-ever-student-body-at-university-of-michigan-
this-fall-officials-say.html.  In fact, at least one set of stud-
ies suggests that, “when we consider the higher education
system  as  a  whole,  it  is  clear  that  the  vast  majority  of
schools would be as racially integrated, or more racially in-
tegrated,  under  a  system  of  no  preferences  than  under  a 
system of large preferences.”  Brief for Richard Sander as 
Amicus Curiae 26.  Race-neutral policies may thus achieve
the same benefits of racial harmony and equality without