Sotomayor, J., dissenting
vantages” underrepresented minority students “at the expense of” other students. Ante, at 27.
That is not the role race plays in holistic admissions. Consistent with the Court’s precedents, respondents’ holistic review policies consider race in a very limited way. Race is only one factor out of many. That type of system allows Harvard and UNC to assemble a diverse class on a multitude of dimensions. Respondents’ policies allow them to select students with various unique attributes, including talented athletes, artists, scientists, and musicians. They also allow respondents to assemble a class with diverse viewpoints, including students who have different political ideologies and academic interests, who have struggled with different types of disabilities, who are from various socioeconomic backgrounds, who understand different ways of life in various parts of the country, and—yes—students who self-identify with various racial backgrounds and who can offer different perspectives because of that identity.
That type of multidimensional system benefits all students. In fact, racial groups that are not underrepresented tend to benefit disproportionately from such a system. Harvard’s holistic system, for example, provides points to applicants who qualify as “ALDC,” meaning “athletes, legacy applicants, applicants on the Dean’s Interest List [primarily relatives of donors], and children of faculty or staff.” Harvard II, 980 F. 3d, at 171 (noting also that “SFFA does not challenge the admission of this large group”). ALDC applicants are predominantly white: Around 67.8% are white, 11.4% are Asian American, 6% are Black, and 5.6% are Latino. Ibid. By contrast, only 40.3% of non-ALDC applicants are white, 28.3% are Asian American, 11% are Black, and 12.6% are Latino. Ibid. Although “ALDC applicants make up less than 5% of applicants to Harvard,” they constitute “around 30% of the applicants admitted each year.” Ibid. Similarly, because of achievement gaps that result from entrenched racial inequality in K–12 education, see infra, at
