Summary

  • The US Supreme Court has ruled that universities cannot consider a prospective student's race when deciding admission

  • The ruling ends a decades-long practice of affirmative action where universities could take race into account in order to improve diversity

  • The cases concerned admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina and will impact admissions rules nationwide

  • Affirmative action first made its way into policy in the 1960s, as many all-white schools began admitting minority students

  • The court has six conservative-leaning justices while three were appointed by Democratic presidents

Live Reporting

Edited by Brandon Livesay and Marianna Brady

  1. As SCOTUS nears end of term, we await key decisions

    Once again, all eyes turn to the US Supreme Court as we await the final decisions of this term.

    The summer session of court ends tomorrow, so the next 48 hours are likely to be intense as we await major decisions on the future of affirmative action, the fate of student loan forgiveness as well as rulings on religious and LGBTQ rights.

    But we don't yet know which decisions will be announced today, it could be any of the cases remaining from the summer session.

    The first decision is moments away.

    Stay tuned.

  2. What’s the affirmative action case about?

    The cases heard by the Supreme Court were about admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

    Currently, admissions policies consider race, among many factors, when evaluating applications.

    The policies on racial diversity are designed to boost the number of admittedminority students - specifically black and Hispanic - and are intended to ensure they are fairly represented among university student bodies.

    In the case of Harvard, the school is being accused of discriminating against Asian American applicants in order to boost representation from other groups.

    The question being weighed by the court is whether the policy is discriminatory and violates civil rights laws.

    Today’s decision could radically impact the admissions plans of hundreds of higher education institutions across the US.

  3. What is the student debt relief case about?

    A protester outside the US Supreme CourtEPA

    President Joe Biden campaigned on the promise of relieving student debt.

    His plan, announced last year, will forgive up to $10,000 (£8,310) per borrower, and $20,000 in some cases.

    Soon after it was announced, lower courts blocked it - leaving millions of borrowers in limbo as the nation's highest court deliberates legal challenges.

    The decision could impact the loans of more than 40 million Americans.

    That includes, according to White House estimates, almost 20 million people who may have their entire student loan balances cancelled.

  4. Welcome

    Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the US Supreme Court.

    We're expecting decisions on several key issues today, including student loan forgiveness and affirmative action.

    These decisions will have wide-reaching impacts across the US.

    The first decision is expected to be announced at 10:00 local time (15:00 BST).

    Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates and analysis.