Turner on high court axing affirmative action: 'To cut that off as if we’ve reached utopia in this country is simply naive'

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner pushed back against the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to do away with affirmative action in college admissions, calling the move "simply naive," Houston FOX affiliate KRIV reported. According to a Houston Daily article, Fox News reported the Supreme Court voted 6-3 on June 29 on grounds race-based admissions run afoul of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

"As you know I’m a product of Harvard Law School, and I was one that came through, affirmative action was in place," Turner said, KRIV reported. "It doesn’t mean that students that come in under affirmative action are any less smart than anyone else. 

"Students that come in are able to compete, able to do well and able to go on and succeed, and I’m one of them. To cut that off as if we’ve reached utopia in this country is simply naive and ignores the reality that exists," the mayor said in the report.

Per a report from Houston NPR affiliate Houston Public Media (HPM), the ruling pertained to a case involving Harvard University and another at the University of North Carolina (UNC). Fox News reported that Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett voted in support of striking down affirmative action, while Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kegan dissented. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson opposed it in part because she recused herself from the Harvard case in response to her past work with Harvard’s Board of Overseers, according to Fox News.

Encyclopedia Britannica defines affirmative action as a measure to increase the chances of women and people who belong to minority groups of affording educational and employment opportunities. One of the hallmarks of the Civil Rights Movement, it was implemented during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson nearly 60 years ago, per the article.

In a statement issued by his office, Turner called on the White House to “use any, and all means” to help racial minorities access higher education. Citing Houston CBS affiliate KHOU, Houston Daily reported that Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature on Senate Bill (SB) 17 makes Texas the second state in the country to ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at public colleges and universities.