Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College

Decided June 29, 2023. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 20-1199 · 600 U.S. 181 (2023) · Cited 189 times

Holding

The admissions programs at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College · 600 U.S. 181 (2023)
• Grutter v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 306 (2003)
• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke · 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
• Plessy v. Ferguson · 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
• City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co. · 488 U.S. 469 (1989)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin · 570 U.S. 297 (2013)
• Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 · 551 U.S. 701 (2007)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 349 U.S. 294 (1955)
• Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Commission · 432 U.S. 333 (1977)
• Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena · 515 U.S. 200 (1995)
• Green v. County School Board of New Kent County · 391 U.S. 430 (1968)
• Gratz v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 244 (2003)
• Utah v. Strieff · 579 U.S. 232 (2016)
• Loving v. Virginia · 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
• Strauder v. West Virginia · 100 U.S. 303 (1880)
• Palmore v. Sidoti · 466 U.S. 429 (1984)
• Yick Wo v. Hopkins · 118 U.S. 356 (1886)
• United States v. Brignoni-Ponce · 422 U.S. 873 (1975)
• Miller v. Johnson · 515 U.S. 900 (1995)
• Johnson v. California · 543 U.S. 499 (2005)
• Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett · 531 U.S. 356 (2001)
• Hirabayashi v. United States · 320 U.S. 81 (1943)
• Korematsu v. United States · 323 U.S. 214 (1945)
• Shaw v. Reno · 509 U.S. 630 (1993)
• Mayor of Baltimore City v. Dawson · 350 U.S. 877 (1955)
• Rice v. Cayetano · 528 U.S. 495 (2000)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · 402 U.S. 1 (1971)
• United States v. Martinez-Fuerte · 428 U.S. 543 (1976)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• United States v. Skrmetti · 605 U.S. 495 (2025)
• Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP · 602 U.S. 1 (2024)
• FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine · 602 U.S. 367 (2024)
• Kousisis v. United States · 605 U.S. 114 (2025)
• A. J. T. v. Osseo Area Schools, Independent School Dist. No. 279 · 605 U.S. 335 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

Explore from here

John Glover Roberts Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2023). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).