Affirmative action is facing its most difficult test

This week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in two related cases that are likely to drastically transform how admissions officers consider race as a factor in college applications, and possibly ban its consideration altogether.

The Court has supported the use of race in admissions for nearly 50 years, but what’s different now is its new conservative supermajority. Out of nine justices, six are now conservative, and with Chief Justice John Roberts’s acknowledgment of his preference for race-neutral admissions policies, a sweeping ban on affirmative action may be on the horizon.

The...