Biden Slams Supreme Court Ruling on Affirmative Action

President Biden declared on Thursday that the Supreme Court “is not a normal court,” delivering an extraordinarily critical assessment of another branch of government shortly after the court’s conservative majority ended nearly a half-century of affirmative action in college admissions.

In brief remarks at the White House after the 6-to-3 ruling, with the court’s three liberal justices offering blistering dissents, Mr. Biden assailed the decision and said he continued to believe in the need for diversity.

“Because the truth is, we all know it: Discrimination still exists in America,” Mr. Biden told reporters in the Roosevelt Room. “Discrimination still exists in America. Discrimination still exists in America. Today’s decision does not change that. It’s a simple fact.”

As he departed for a daylong trip to New York City, a reporter asked whether the decision should make people question the court’s legitimacy and then asked, “Is this a rogue court?”

Mr. Biden stopped midstride and appeared to think for a moment before saying, “This is not a normal court.”

Presidents often disagree with decisions by the Supreme Court, sometimes vigorously. In 2010, President Barack Obama chastised the justices for their decision to remove corporate campaign limits — as they sat before him during his first State of the Union address.

But rarely do presidents hint that they question the motivations or the basic quality of the justices themselves. A few hours after Mr. Biden’s comment about the court not being “normal,” he was asked to explain by Nicolle Wallace during an interview on MSNBC’s “Deadline White House” program.

The president said he had been referring to the fact that the justices on the current court have been more willing than usual to overturn the precedents set by previous justices.

“It’s done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history,” Mr. Biden said. “Take a look at how it’s ruled on a number of issues that had been precedent for 50, 60 years sometimes. And that’s what I meant by not normal.”

During the interview, Mr. Biden rejected the idea of expanding the Supreme Court in an effort to make it more liberal — an option some Democrats have urged him to pursue — as a response to the court’s recent rulings.

“If we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy, that you can’t get back,” Mr. Biden told Ms. Wallace.

But he did not back away from his earlier criticism of the decision. He declined to say that the court is “anti-democratic,” but he said “its value system is different and its respect for institutions is different.”

White House officials said the president’s swift and aggressive comments after the court’s rejection of affirmative action was the culmination of months of deliberations behind closed doors to prepare for the ruling.

Mr. Biden’s advisers had been meeting for months with civil rights organizations, universities and legal organizations to map out what to do if the court ended the use of race as a consideration in admissions decisions. The president’s top domestic policy advisers worked with their counterparts at the Department of Education and the Justice Department to map out a response, they said.

Initially, it largely consisted of two parts. The president first described the decision as a misguided victory for the wealthy and powerful over the interests of the poor and the middle class — a criticism that fits with the political brand he has sought to develop over nearly a half century in public life.

“Today, for too many schools, the only people who benefit from the system are the wealthy and the well-connected,” he said. “The odds have been stacked against working people for much too long.”

Mr. Biden then promised guidance for colleges and universities on how they could still seek diversity despite the ruling. He urged colleges and universities to continue to try to achieve diversity on their campuses by taking into account the hardships that their applicants have faced in their lives.

“What I propose for consideration is a new standard for colleges taking into account the adversity a student has overcome when selecting among qualified applicants,” he said.

Mr. Biden said that “students first have to be qualified applicants,” but he added that “once that test is met, then adversity should be considered, including a student’s lack of financial means.”

“The kid who faced tougher challenges has demonstrated more grit, more determination, and that should be a factor that colleges should take into account,” he said.

White House officials said the Education Department would host a “national summit” on the issue of diversity in college admissions next month. And Mr. Biden on Thursday called on leaders in higher education to consider financial means, where a student grew up and personal experiences when they are choosing among a pool of already qualified applicants.

Mr. Biden’s proposal is similar to admissions systems already in use at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine and elsewhere. Davis has successfully used a system it calls the “socioeconomic diversity index” to become one of the most diverse medical schools in the country.

In the MSNBC interview, Mr. Biden addressed several other topics as well.

He declined to comment on the cases involving former President Donald J. Trump, saying that he had made a commitment not to interfere in any way with Justice Department prosecutions.

“I have not spoken once, not one single time, with the attorney general on any specific case. Not once,” he said.