SCOTUS Strikes Racial Quotas in Bakke but Allows Race as One Admissions Factor

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke on June 28, 1978, that the UC Davis medical school's rigid racial quota reserving 16 seats for minority applicants was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause. Justice Lewis Powell's controlling opinion held that race could still be considered as one factor among many in holistic admissions to achieve a diverse educational environment. The decision preserved affirmative action while banning explicit quotas, setting the framework for the next 25 years of university admissions law.