Page:Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.pdf/39

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Cite as: 600 U. S. ____ (2023)
31

Opinion of the Court

at 821–822.

The results of the Harvard admissions process reflect this numerical commitment. For the admitted classes of 2009 to 2018, black students represented a tight band of 10.0%–11.7% of the admitted pool. The same theme held true for other minority groups:

Share of Students Admitted to Harvard by Race
 African-American 
Share of Class
  Hispanic Share  
of Class
 Asian-American 
Share of Class
 Class of 2009  11% 8% 18%
Class of 2010 10% 10% 18%
Class of 2011 10% 10% 19%
Class of 2012 10% 9% 19%
Class of 2013 10% 11% 17%
Class of 2014 11% 9% 20%
Class of 2015 12% 11% 19%
Class of 2016 10% 9% 20%
Class of 2017 11% 10% 20%
Class of 2018 12% 12% 19%

Brief for Petitioner in No. 20–1199 etc., p. 23. Harvard’s focus on numbers is obvious.[1]


  1. The principal dissent claims that “[t]he fact that Harvard’s racial shares of admitted applicants varies relatively little … is unsurprising and reflects the fact that the racial makeup of Harvard’s applicant pool also varies very little over this period.” Post, at 35 (opinion of Sotomayor, J.) (internal quotation marks omitted). But that is exactly the point: Harvard must use precise racial preferences year in and year out to maintain the unyielding demographic composition of its class. The dissent is thus left to attack the numbers themselves, arguing they were “handpicked” “from a truncated period.” Ibid., n. 29 (opinion of Sotomayor, J.). As supposed proof, the dissent notes that the share of