WASHINGTON — The issue of affirmative action in college admissions ran into a solid wall of conservative skepticism at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, but a long and contentious hearing gave both sides reason to wonder whether the opponents have enough votes to end it.
The answer will almost surely be provided by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who has never upheld a race-conscious plan such as the one being challenged in this case from the University of Texas at Austin. But Kennedy has also been reluctant to say race may never be used, and on Wednesday he seemed less convinced than the court’s other conservatives that he had all the information needed to pass judgment on UT’s program.
The challengers are contesting only UT’s unusual program. But the court could go further, saying the time has come to no longer allow colleges to consider race at all when building their student bodies.
Justice Antonin Scalia was blunt, questioning the benefit of trying to include more minority students at the nation’s selective universities. “Really competent blacks” would win admission without special considerations, he said.
“There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to — to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a less — a slower-track school where they do well,” he said.
“They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they’re — that they’re being pushed ahead in — in classes that are too — too fast for them,” Scalia said.
