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]
- ↑ 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
