WATCH: 'Why are colleges allowed to do this?' Lawyer explains race-based admissions policies.

Campus Reform Reporter Alexa Schwerha spoke with Southeastern Legal attorney CeCe O'Leary about race-based college admissions and its fate before the Supreme Court.


Campus Reform Reporter Alexa Schwerha sat down with Southeastern Legal Attorney CeCe O’Leary to discuss the anticipated hearing before the United States Supreme Court regarding race-based college admissions.

Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina will be argued together to challenge how the universities use race as a factor in the admission process.

”Across our country in any aspect that you look at, it is illegal and unconstitutional to be looking at the color of someone’s skin to admit them or exclude them based on race,” O’Leary says.

O’Leary also breaks down the impact Justice Bryer’s retirement will have on the court dynamic, and how liberal logic should apply to the newly appointed nominee. 

Biden recently fulfilled a campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. His nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, will soon undergo hearings prior to a congressional vote.

Under the Trump administration, two Supreme Court justices were questioned extensively about whether or not they should recuse themselves when hearing cases in which it was alleged that they maintained too personal a tie.

 Justice Brett Kavanaugh was asked to recuse himself from participating in any case regarding the former President. Justice Amy Coney Barrett was asked to refrain from participating in the abortion debate due to deeply held religious beliefs.

These precedents pose the question of whether or not Jackson should recuse herself to cases involving affirmative action.

”It’s unfortunate that our Court has become so politicized from the sense of the nomination process, where every politician is using it as a platform these days,” O’Leary explains. “I think a good justice is a good justice and, ultimately, it comes back to this idea of our constitution being color blind.”

”If the justice is going to uphold these founding principles that we believe in then they should do so,” she states. 

Watch the full video above.

Follow @AlexaSchwerha1 on Twitter