The Supreme Court declared affirmative action programs at public and private colleges and universities unconstitutional on Thursday in a decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The decision puts an end to most systems designed to help Black and Latino students access higher education after centuries of racial discrimination. Colleges and universities will no longer be allowed to seek greater diversity of their student bodies by preferencing race, although student applicants will not be precluded from discussing their race during the application process as it relates to their individual experience. The most immediate effect will be a decrease in the number of Black and Latino students admitted to the most selective schools, studies show .

In his opinion, Roberts stated that schools are not permitted to judge candidates for admissions based on their race.

Many universities have for too long done just the opposite, Roberts wrote. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.

Adopted in the late-1960s in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, college affirmative action policies aimed to increase Black and Latino attainment in higher education. They faced instant opposition from many white Americans and conservative politicians who came to see them as a form of reverse racism that favored Black and Latino students over white students. In the 21st century, the artificially low admittance rate of Asian American applicants became a focus of opposition to affirmative action.

Asian American plaintiffs were at the center of the challenges in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina, which have now ended affirmative action programs nationwide.