[ti:US High Court Reviews Race Consideration in College Admission] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The United States Supreme Court again is hearing arguments [00:06.20]about race-based considerations in university admissions policies. [00:14.24]The cases concern such policies [00:16.96]at the University of North Carolina (UNC), a public school, [00:22.72]and Harvard, the nation's oldest private university. [00:29.04]The nation's highest court agreed to hear the legal actions [00:33.80]after lower courts ruled in favor of both UNC and Harvard. [00:41.16]The lower courts ruled that both schools followed [00:45.08]past Supreme Court rulings, called precedents. [00:50.28]It rejected accusations of discrimination [00:53.76]against white and Asian-American students. [00:58.64]In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled [01:02.44]that the University of Michigan's law school [01:05.84]could consider race in its admissions process [01:09.84]to create "a diverse educational environment." [01:14.80]In 2016, the court ruled that the constitution [01:19.28]does not bar consideration of race in a case [01:23.64]about admission at the University of Texas at Austin. [01:29.28]The group Students for Fair Admissions, or SFFA, [01:34.96]brought the legal actions against UNC and Harvard. [01:40.56]The group's founder, Edward Blum, is a conservative activist. [01:46.36]He brought similar legal action [01:48.76]against the University of Texas [01:51.44]and also organized against the Voting Rights Act. [01:56.88]The SFFA argued that the Constitution [02:01.20]bars the use of race in college admissions and called [02:06.00]for overturning earlier Supreme Court decisions that disagreed. [02:12.32]Colleges and universities can use other, race-neutral ways [02:17.92]to build a diverse student body, it said. [02:22.48]The group offered the possibility of considering a student's [02:26.64]socioeconomic position, for example. [02:30.88]It also said the schools should stop [02:34.12]favoring applicants whose parents are former students. [02:39.60]During the hearings, the justices [02:42.36]appeared to take different sides in the dispute. [02:46.84]Justice Clarence Thomas, who has a record of opposition [02:51.48]to race consideration, said, [02:54.40]"I've heard the word ‘diversity' quite a few times [02:58.40]and I don't have a clue what it means." [03:02.28]Justice Samuel Alito compared race consideration [03:06.68]to giving minorities a starting point closer to the finish line. [03:12.56]Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is the court's newest justice [03:18.48]and its first Black female member. [03:22.32]She said UNC's admission programs [03:26.24]are "looking at the full person with all of those characteristics." [03:32.84]And Justice Elena Kagan called universities [03:37.36]the "pipelines to leadership in our society" [03:41.84]and suggested that without race consideration, [03:46.52]fewer minority students could attend these colleges. [03:52.04]Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar [03:55.76]represents the Biden administration. [03:59.36]She said the schools' admission policies [04:02.52]support national security interest. [04:06.40]Prelogar said, a diverse group of military officers [04:11.12]is critical to national security. [04:14.16]She said that requires race-based considerations in admissions, [04:20.48]"including at the nation's service academies." [04:25.52]A decision in today's hearing is not expected before late spring. [04:31.92]I'm Caty Weaver. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM