Page:Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.pdf/127

Rh Clause requires any consideration of race to satisfy “strict scrutiny,” meaning it must be “narrowly tailored to further compelling governmental interests.” Grutter, 539 U. S., at 326 (internal quotation marks omitted). Outside the context of higher education, “our precedents have identified only two” interests that meet this demanding standard: “remediating specific, identified instances of past discrimination that violated the Constitution or a statute,” and “avoiding imminent and serious risks to human safety in prisons.” (opinion for the Court).

Within higher education, however, an entirely distinct set of rules emerged. Following Bakke, this Court declared that judges may simply “defer” to a school’s assertion that “diversity is essential” to its “educational mission.” Grutter, 539 U. S., at 328. Not all schools, though—elementary and secondary schools apparently do not qualify for this deference. See Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1, 551 U. S. 701, 724–725 (2007). Only colleges and universities, the Court explained, “occupy a special niche in our constitutional tradition.” Grutter, 539 U. S., at 329. Yet even they (wielding their “special niche” authority) cannot simply assert an interest in diversity and discriminate as they please. Fisher, 579 U. S., at 381. Instead, they may consider race only as a “plus” factor for the purpose of “attaining a critical mass of underrepresented minority students” or “a diverse student body.” Grutter, 539 U. S., at 335–336 (internal quotation marks omitted). At the same time, the Court cautioned, this practice “must have a logical end point.” Id., at 342. And in the meantime, “outright racial balancing” and “quota system[s]” remain “patently unconstitutional.” Id., at 330, 334. Nor may a college or university ever provide “mechanical, predetermined diversity bonuses.” Id., at 337 (internal quotation marks omitted). Only a “tip” or “plus” is constitutionally tolerable, and only for a limited time. Id., at 338–339, 341.

If you cannot follow all these twists and turns, you are