SCOTUS FRQ - Brown v. BOE & Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard

Harvard and the University of North Carolina (U.N.C.) are both prestigious schools with highly selective admissions processes. A factor considered for student admission by Harvard and U.N.C. is an applicant's race. Race has been a significant factor for a large portion of all admitted African American and Hispanic applicants. 

Students for Fair Admissions filed lawsuits against Harvard and U.N.C. because their admissions processes were discriminatory based on race. Lower federal courts found that racial consideration affected Asian American and white applicants negatively. 

In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023), the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Harvard's and U.N.C.’s admission policies violate the 14th Amendment. The court’s holding built on previous rulings that raised the concern that race as a factor in admissions could harm non-minority applicants because they would not benefit from race-based consideration. The court also held that racial classifications used at Harvard and U.N.C. were too general and relied on racial stereotyping.

Identify the clause of the 14th Amendment that is common in both Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023). 

Explain how the reasoning in Brown v. Board of Education and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023) led to different holdings.

Explain why a change in the ideological composition of the United States Supreme Court may have affected the justices’ views on race in education and interpretation of the 14th Amendment used in the Brown and Students for Fair Admissions decisions.