Page:Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.pdf/131

Rh have read a solo opinion in Bakke like a statute while reading Title VI as a mere suggestion. A proper respect for the law demands the opposite. Title VI bears independent force beyond the Equal Protection Clause. Nothing in it grants special deference to university administrators. Nothing in it endorses racial discrimination to any degree or for any purpose. Title VI is more consequential than that.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, Congress took vital steps toward realizing the promise of equality under the law. As important as those initial efforts were, much work remained to be done—and much remains today. But by any measure, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stands as a landmark on this journey and one of the Nation’s great triumphs. We have no right to make a blank sheet of any of its provisions. And when we look to the clear and powerful command Congress set forth in that law, these cases all but resolve themselves. Under Title VI, it is never permissible “ ‘to say “yes” to one person … but to say “no” to another person’ ” even in part “ ‘because of the color of his skin.’ ” Bakke, 438 U. S., at 418 (opinion of Stevens, J.).