The Supreme Court's conservative supermajority heaped skepticism on affirmative action-based college admissions policies on Monday in yet another case that could see the high court overturn its own precedent.
A pair of legal challenges targeting race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina are part of another politically-charged docket for justices this year.
Trump-appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested race-based admissions policies are 'potentially dangerous' while longtime Justice Clarence Thomas claimed to not 'have a clue' of what diversity means during the tense hearing.
Conservative activists are claiming that the 14th Amendment, which ended slavery and guaranteed all Americans equal protection under the law, means that governments and other such institutions cannot enact race-based policies - even if they aid people who have suffered from discrimination.
It comes after the court's last term saw it overturn federal abortion protections granted in Roe v. Wade and deem New York's strict conceal carry gun laws unconstitutional, both of which have angered Democratic officials and voters.
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard the UNC case first. Both were brought by a group founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum.
The universities have said they use race as only one factor in a host of individualized evaluations for admission without quotas - permissible under Supreme Court precedents - and that curbing the consideration of race would result in a significant drop in the number of students from under-represented groups.
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