Top court hears challenges brought against two universities

National debate in the United States on the role played by race in college admissions culminated with the Supreme Court hearing challenges against two universities.

To create a diverse student body, many colleges and universities in the US consider a student's race as a factor in their admissions process. Such race-conscious policies — known as affirmative action — have been repeatedly upheld by the nation's top court in past decades.

Educators fear a "ripple effect" if the conservative court decides that the affirmative action policy is illegal.

The baseline for permissible affirmative action programs in US higher education was established in 1978.

Citing Harvard University as the model, Justice Lewis Powell said that in evaluating applicants, race could not be the determinative factor, but the university could use race as one of the many factors, just as it uses other traits such as a special talent for music, science or athletics, and even the fact that an applicant's parents attended the university.

In 2016, the Supreme Court upheld an admissions program at the University of Texas at Austin, ruling that the university could continue to consider race as a factor.

This time, the challenges were brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, or UNC, with the court hearing the arguments in late October.

The new Supreme Court is the most conservative for 90 years. The six justices appointed by Republican presidents and the three appointed by Democrats appeared divided along ideological lines.

The court is likely to overturn some or all of such case precedents based on sharp and skeptical questioning from the conservative justices.

During court argument, Justice Clarence Thomas asked lawyers for the universities to define "diversity". He said, "It seems to mean everything for everyone." Justice Samuel A.Alito Jr. asked what "underrepresented minority" meant.

The justices are not expected to finalize their opinions until late June or early July. If they rule that affirmative action is unconstitutional, the number of black and Latino students would be reduced in colleges and universities nationwide, particularly at elite institutions.