the lead starts right now. the justices erase race-based college admissions. we re talking to one of the attorneys that argued in support of affirmative action before the court. then documents shared exclusively with cnn show a russian general, whose whereabouts is currently unknown, was a secret vip member of the wagner mercenary group. plus cnn s erin burnett joins us live from kyiv where she just sat down with former vice president mike pence during his surprise trip. the parkland resource officer who did not enter the building is found not guilty. welcome to the lead. i m abby phillip. jake tapper is off today. we begin with our law and justice lead. college admissions programs in america will no longer look the same. protesters gathered outside the u.s. supreme court after its landmark decision saying colleges can no longer take race into consideration as an expressed factor in admissions. now, this over turns longstanding precedent that has benefited black and lat
affirmative action and college admissions calling the policy on constitutional decision came after a case was brought in front of harvard in the case of north carolina. our reporter has the details. a landmark decision from a bitterly divided supreme court, rejecting the use of race as we know it in college admissions, chief johnson to conclude programs at harvard and the university of north carolina violated the law, riding the schools unavoidably a cloyed race in a negative manner involved racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful and points. the polarizing stigmatizing and on fair jurisprudence that allowed colleges and universities to use a students race and ethnicity as a factor to either admit them or reject them has been overruled. praise there from the architect of the lawsuits, the schools were accused of giving substantial preferences to black and hispanic applicants while discriminating against asian students. what this lawsuit reveals is that personality
diaz-balart. we begin with a decision from the u.s. supreme court that will have huge implications for colleges and universities and society in general. last hour the justices said schools cannot use race as a consideration when it comes to admitting students. ruling that affirmative action programs both at harvard and the university of north carolina are unconstitutional. it is also a decision that could have implications far beyond education. with us now to take a closer look at this, we have nbc news correspondent julia ainsley, who is outside the supreme court, we have reverend al sharpton there in the center of the screen, president of the national action network and host of politics nation on msnbc, as well as maya riley, president of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. welcome to you all on this extraordinary news day. julia, what more did the justices have to say in their decision? reporter: well, in short, they have ended affirmative action as we
biden isn t a king. but don t take that from me. people think that the president of the united states has the power for debt forgiveness. he does not. he can postpone, he can delay. but he does not have that power. that has to be an act of congress. so catch this. the court citeded that exact line from pelosi when they slapped down biden s bailout. one of the very few times nancy and i agree on anything. but that hasn t stopped the media from losing it. if you think about all the grievances that are brought about the trump election, what you re seeing is severe backlash in the sense that people do not want to see black and brown people excel in this country. do you think it s a setback for gender equality? well, it s definitely a setback for social mobility through education. these decisions over the last 24 hours are essentially making it harder for a range of communities to go to college and seek a higher education. this represents an extremist minority who s
decision. first what the president just said, speaking live from the white house, i strongly, strongly disagree with the court s decision. he said the court walked away from decades of precedent and called this not a normal court. what was your reaction to what you just heard? my reaction is that actually the supreme court is finally bringing into alignment education law with employment law. for over 40 years the supreme court has been more conservative on employment law and has restricted use of race motivated by interests like diversity or equity or systemic racism or societal discrimination. so really, i find the court s opinion today really to just be reaffirming what the court has held in other areas the fact we should not use race as a justification for any decision-making. andrew, we got word from the justice department and the attorney general with a statement, the supreme court s decision undercuts efforts by universities across the country to create a diverse gr