The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) denounced today’s Supreme Court ruling overturning affirmative action and rolling back decades of progress against race-related inequities.
“Affirmative Action has enriched our communities, workplaces, government, and more. Upending this policy will have disastrous consequences beyond education,” said Bridget Moix, FCNL general secretary. “We are firmly committed to actively challenging the laws, systems, mindsets, policies, and practices that lead to institutionalized racism and injustice to avoid complicity.”
FCNL’s statement of legislative policy, The World We Seek, clearly states that the federal government “has a special responsibility to establish policies that acknowledge our history and create genuine equality of opportunity.”
“After years of admissions work striving for racial equity at a Quaker college, it’s unnerving to witness a ruling poised to unravel decades of work to introduce inclusion, equity, and social mobility for historically disenfranchised communities,” said Anika Forrest, FCNL legislative director for domestic policy. “The Supreme Court decision isn’t about preventing unfair preference; it is an intentional erasure of systemic disadvantages for communities that lack wealth, power, and privilege.”
“I’m a Black, first-generation American. My family knew that education was our path out of poverty; a life my grandmother knew well,” said José Santos Moreno, FCNL director for justice reform. “I’ve learned that opportunity in the United States is directly tied to zip code, resources, and access—realities with racial implications. Higher education institutions understood that we don’t all have the same starting line, and that disparity can impact our lifelong opportunity trajectory. This decision now makes it harder for many who look like me to succeed in an unequal society.”
Although FCNL does not lobby directly on education issues, it supports its partners—like the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights—in their advocacy.
“At FCNL we seek a society with equity and justice for all. Affirmative Action has long been a pillar for equity in our country, a way of leveling the playing field to address centuries of oppression,” said Lauren Brownlee, FCNL associate general secretary for community and culture. “Our community has committed to using our spheres of influence to challenge injustice. This must be a call to action.”
