President Joe Biden on Thursday said he "strongly" disagreed with the US Supreme Court's ruling banning the use of race and ethnicity in university admission policies, which came as a major blow to a decades-old practice that boosted educational opportunities for African-Americans and other minorities.
The ruling "walked away from decades of precedent," he said, adding universities "should not abandon their commitment" to create diverse student bodies.
"Discrimination still exists in America," said Biden. "Today's decision does not change that. It's a simple fact that if a student has had to overcome adversity on their path to education, colleges should recognize and value that."
"I believe our colleges are stronger when they are racially diverse... We cannot let this decision be the last word."
Asked by reporters if Thursday's decision by the conservative-dominated panel -- which also voted last year to overturn a nationwide right to abortion -- showed it was a rogue court, Biden took a lengthy pause before finally saying that "this is not a normal court.
One year after overturning the guarantee of a woman's right to have an abortion, the court's conservative majority again demonstrated its readiness to scrap liberal policies set in law since the 1960s.
The justices broke six to three along conservative-liberal lines in the decision, which came after years of ring-wing antipathy to "affirmative action" programs that have sought diversity in school admissions and business and government hiring.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that while affirmative action was "well-intentioned and implemented in good faith," it cannot last forever, and amounted to unconstitutional discrimination against others.
