Sotomayor, J., dissenting
Brown’s transformative legacy. School segregation “has a detrimental effect” on Black students by “denoting the inferiority” of “their status in the community” and by “ ‘depriv[ing] them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system.’ ” 347 U. S., at 494. In sharp contrast, race-conscious college admissions ensure that higher education is “visibly open to” and “inclusive of talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.” Grutter, 539 U. S., at 332. These two uses of race are not created equal. They are not “equally objectionable.” Id., at 327.
Relatedly, Justice Thomas suggests that race-conscious college admissions policies harm racial minorities by increasing affinity-based activities on college campuses. Ante, at 46. Not only is there no evidence of a causal connection between the use of race in college admissions and the supposed rise of those activities, but Justice Thomas points to no evidence that affinity groups cause any harm. Affinity-based activities actually help racial minorities improve their visibility on college campuses and “decreas[e] racial stigma and vulnerability to stereotypes” caused by “conditions of racial isolation” and “tokenization.” U. Jayakumar, Why Are All Black Students Still Sitting Together in the Proverbial College Cafeteria?, Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA (Oct. 2015); see also Brief for Respondent-Students in No. 21–707, p. 42 (collecting student testimony demonstrating that “affinity groups beget important academic and social benefits” for racial minorities); 4 App. in No. 20–1199, at 1591 (Harvard Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion Report) (noting that concerns “that culturally specific spaces or affinity-themed housing will isolate” student minorities are misguided because those spaces allow students “to come together … to deal with intellectual, emotional, and social challenges”).
Citing no evidence, Justice Thomas also suggests that race-conscious admissions programs discriminate against
