The Sunday Subject – July 2, 2023

The Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action and Biden’s student loan relief program are unconstitutional.

In the 6-3 decisions, the court’s conservative majority ruled that Harvard and the University of North Carolina’s affirmative action policies discriminated against whites and Asians, and that the Biden administration’s student loan relief program overstepped its authority, respectively. Universities may no longer systematically consider race as a factor in admissions. Meanwhile, Biden pledged to pursue student loan forgiveness under a different statute.

Protests erupted across France after police fatally shot a teenager of North African descent who drove away from a traffic stop.

French President Emmanuel Macron described the death of the 17-year-old as “inexcusable,” though criticized the subsequent violence as “unjustifiable.” Police unions criticized Macron for calling the shooting inexcusable, while several town halls in Paris were attacked by protestors.

Olivia Chow has been elected mayor of Toronto.

Chow, a former member of Parliament from the left-leaning New Democratic Party, will be Toronto’s first non-white mayor. She succeeds John Tory, a Conservative who resigned after admitting to having an affair with a staffer.