programs at harvard and the university of north carolina violated the constitution's guarantee of equal protection, handing conservative activists a major victory. writing for the majority, supreme court chiefjustice john roberts wrote that: butjustice sonia sotomayor, who authored the dissent, asserted that the decision rolls back decades of precedent and progress. in the dissenting opinion, sotomayor wrote that: meanwhile, presidentjoe biden called the ruling a "severe disappointment". i also believe that while talent, creativity and hard work are everywhere across this country, not equal opportunity — it is not everywhere in this country. we cannot let this

decision be the last word. we cannot let this decision be the last word. earlier, i had the chance to speak to former governor of massachusetts and former us assistant attorney general for civil rights, deval patrick. it's great to have you on bbc news. the court said in its majority opinion that both of these programmes at harvard and north carolina unavoidably employed race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping and lack of meaningful endpoints. what do you think of that argument? well, i think that it's disappointing but not surprising. there is a right way and a wrong way to do affirmative action, or at least that's what the inaudible has had for a long time. the wrong way involves quotas and set—asides and that kind of numeric and wooden programme. the right way, at least until today, we thought, was to take race or ethnicity into account, alongside preparation and

achievement and grit and potential and the very kinds of things that contribute to composing really strong class for a course or, rather, for admissions to a college. the court today have said is that any consideration of race seemed to be unconstitutional and, yet, then they go on and say if the applicant brings it up say if the applicant brings it up as a part of his or her explanation of their own background of their own circumstances and the course and journey they've been on, that that's ok. so that's a little confusing, be a little hopeful, but i think the rhetoric that you mentioned is what it is. rhetoric that you mentioned is what it is-_ rhetoric that you mentioned is what it is. ~ ., ., what it is. would you encourage students to. _ what it is. would you encourage students to, indeed, _ what it is. would you encouragej students to, indeed, mentioned their race, bring up their background in applying to universities?— background in applying to universities? , ., ~ universities? race is not like how can you _ universities? race is not like how can you know? - universities? race is not like how can you know? i - universities? race is not like how can you know? i read i how can you know? i read comments and some of the media today that all sorts were saying that their intention in

applying to harvard or unc is to mention their ethnic background and how that has helped to shape who they are and, by the way, notjust black students but asian students, students but asian students, students from rural communities, hispanic students, and so on. that makes sense to me. i think what is sad is that the court has demonstrated just a profound either naivety or unwillingness to consider not just our history but our reality today around race and if that is indeed the problem it has been, it's not the same as it's always been, if it is indeed the problem than it has been them curing the problem solving the problem is not going to happen through denial. 0k, going to happen through denial. ok, so in 1995, you with the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the clinton administration and you at the time testified against a bill that would have ended affirmative action, saying, quote "when it is done the right way affirmative action has been shown to be a

sensible, restrained tool to help our society achieve its goal of equal opportunity and integration." as affirmative action still as necessary to now as you saw it to be back then? ~ ., ., ~ ~ then? well, look, i think we have a multiracial, - have a multiracial, multi—ethnic democracy. we know that talent exists in every community in america and we ought to wish to have our institutions and our opportunities as widely available to every member went to all of that talent in every community. in america. that's all affirmative action has been about. how you reach out and seek and encourage that talent to participate in schools and universities, to participate in job opportunities, participate in leadership opportunities. 0k. �* 4' in leadership opportunities. 0k. ~ ., . , 0k. and i think that enriches everybody — 0k. and i think that enriches everybody and _ 0k. and i think that enriches everybody and i _ ok. and i think that enriches everybody and i think- 0k. and i think that enriches everybody and i think that'sl everybody and i think that's certainly been my life experience and the experience

of many, many others. several asian-american _ of many, many others. several asian-american organisations | asian—american organisations disagree and the head of one today said the ruling will preserve meritocracy and that affirmative action had made american asians and second—class citizens. what do you make of that? i second-class citizens. what do you make of that?— you make of that? i think that's what _ you make of that? i think that's what that - you make of that? i think| that's what that individual you make of that? i think - that's what that individual has said that there is reason polymer shows that the use of the majority view, even among asian—americans. there are a wide range of views about affirmative action. we never even start with the question of what form of affirmative action we are talking about. it's simply this notion that, you know, it must all be done with a so—called wrong way rather than taking into account that, among otherfactors than taking into account that, among other factors and features of an applicant among otherfactors and features of an applicant or a canada's qualifications. —— candidate. it has never been the case even at a place as fancy as harvard but grades alone or test scores alone the whole story. they never tell

the whole story. i have never been the only thing considered. 0k. been the only thing considered. ok. if been the only thing considered. 0k. ., ., ,., ., been the only thing considered. 0k. ., ok. if we are about, as i say, exoanding — ok. if we are about, as i say, expanding opportunity - ok. if we are about, as i say, expanding opportunity to - expanding opportunity to everyone, they shouldn't be the only thing that's considered. president biden was asked today about the prospect of reforming the supreme court and he did not seem to indicate that he would support any time of major reform. do you support it? you know, reform. do you support it? you know. sumi. — reform. do you support it? you know, sumi, i've _ reform. do you support it? you. know, sumi, i've fought so hard about it. i am a lawyer, i've argued before the court, i have tremendous respect for the institution of the supreme court, so the idea of significant reform is something that, you know, just as very hard for me to wrap my mind around. i have considered some of the proposals that are out there, like expanding the size of the court. i kind of like the idea of them as we do in massachusetts, life appointments to a particular age. in massachusetts, it's 70. maybe it should be 80 at the supreme court or the federal

courts at large. i'm just not sure. i will say that i think the way the last several positions were filled by changing the rules in the senate and jamming through appointees or blocking appointees or blocking appointees that president 0bama should, by right, have had the opportunity to appoint have resulted in the engineering of the outcomes that we are seeing. the outcomes that we are seeina. ,., ., the outcomes that we are seeina. _, ., ., the outcomes that we are seeina. ,., ., ., ., ., seeing. governor, great to have ou on seeing. governor, great to have you on the _ seeing. governor, great to have you on the show— seeing. governor, great to have you on the show and _ seeing. governor, great to have you on the show and thank- seeing. governor, great to have you on the show and thank you | you on the show and thank you forjoining us. you on the show and thank you forjoining us-_ forjoining us. thank you, sumi. forjoining us. thank you, sumi- you _ forjoining us. thank you, sumi. you be _ forjoining us. thank you, sumi. you be well. - i also spoke with republican congressman ken buck. thank you so much forjoining us again on bbc news. in the dissenting opinion today, justice sonia sotomayor wrote the following.

what do you think of that? i think it is hogwash. truth is that asian students are being discriminated against because of this racial inequality in admissions. it is not racial equality to deny admission to better students, to merit, to students that have higher merit in their application and that's what's happening to asian students and to a lesser extent to white students. i've heard a number of if harvard does away with, and harvard was one of the defendants in the lawsuit, if they do away with a race—based admissions policy, 43% of the students will be asian at harvard. that's based on merit. that's the way it should be. it should not be a system that discriminates against people because of the colour of their skin or their ethnicity or their background in other ways. we want to look at merit and admit people to universities based on merit. about students who come from a disadvantaged background? disadvantaged background ? according to disadvantaged background? according to the new york times

after michigan band race—conscious admissions in 2006, like undergraduate enrolment declined at the university of michigan and the share of black students fell to 4% in 2021 from 7% in 2006. are you concerned that we may see a big drop in african—american attendance at use bachar for us universities? i’m attendance at use bachar for us universities?— universities? i'm also concerned _ universities? i'm also concerned with - universities? i'm also concerned with the i universities? i'm also - concerned with the graduation rate of minority students at the same universities. i think that there is a focus that we need to bring to k through 12 education in inner cities. we need to make sure we reduce the influence of teachers unions and we need to provide young people the opportunity to succeed. when we had charter schools in inner city black communities, those students have competed with suburban white schools head to head. those students have excelled in universities. but to take a student who is not prepared and to put them into a university setting and watch them drop out is not a favour to anyone. but

auain, is not a favour to anyone. but again. don't— is not a favour to anyone. but again, don't they _ is not a favour to anyone. but again, don't they need the opportunity to get to the university in the first place? are you worried about a drop in the numbers? i’m are you worried about a drop in the numbers?— are you worried about a drop in the numbers? i'm not worried in the numbers? i'm not worried in the drop of— the numbers? i'm not worried in the drop of these _ the numbers? i'm not worried in the drop of these numbers - the numbers? i'm not worried in the drop of these numbers but l the numbers? i'm not worried in the drop of these numbers but i | the drop of these numbers but i think what we need to do in america is to focus on the k through 12 education and give people a real opportunity, not a fake opportunity and not an opportunity that comes at the cost of someone else who has worked harder who has achieved better grades, who is more qualified and prepared for the university. that's not what we do and that's not what we stand for in this country. we don't want to discriminate against people based on race. we spoke to secretary _ people based on race. we spoke to secretary of _ people based on race. we spoke to secretary of education - to secretary of education miguel cardona earlier and i want to play to you what you told us. in want to play to you what you told us. ., .., , told us. in our country unfortunately - told us. in our country unfortunately is - told us. in our country unfortunately is the i told us. in our country - unfortunately is the president said there is still discrimination. we still have outcomes that are different based — outcomes that are different based on place, based on race and place. _ based on place, based on race and place, so we have a lot of work — and place, so we have a lot of work to — and place, so we have a lot of work to do— and place, so we have a lot of work to do and i think the affirmative action tool was one that helped level the playing

field — that helped level the playing field and i still believe that we have the responsibility to make — we have the responsibility to make sure that our campuses are diverse _ make sure that our campuses are diverse because learning is better_ diverse because learning is hetter in_ diverse because learning is better in environments that are diverse — better in environments that are diverse. ~ ., better in environments that are diverse. . , , , diverse. what responsibility, on brisbane, _ diverse. what responsibility, on brisbane, do _ diverse. what responsibility, on brisbane, do you - diverse. what responsibility, on brisbane, do you think i on brisbane, do you think university had to ensure they are diverse learning environments? universities have a responsibility to teach. that's what they have an opportunity — responsibility to do, and teach the best students with the best professors in the best way. they don't have a responsibility to correct the ills of a secondary education system that is at fault for the racial inequality that we see amongst students applying to universities — and they certainly don't have a responsibility to discriminate against one racial group. because they're trying to foster this false idea that there is some sort of equality in grades by admitting various racial groups to colleges.

that's a very dangerous path for us to go down. we've been on the wrong path. we should make sure we have a race—neutral admissions process at universities. if we look at higher education, what is the right way to address inequalities there? inequality in what? in education? inequality in family background? inequality in community support? what inequality are you trying to address? because the asian student that doesn't get admitted to stanford, doesn't get admitted to berkely, doesn't get admitted to madison, wisconsin, doesn't get admitted to harvard, that asian student is feeling a great inequality in how they are treated in the admissions process. treated in the admissions process-_ treated in the admissions rocess. ~ ~ ., ., . process. we know that the white house has _ process. we know that the white house has instructed _ process. we know that the white house has instructed the - house has instructed the education and justice departments to issue guidance within 45 days on lawful practices going forward to universities and you sit on the

judiciary committee. what do you expect to see in this guidance? i you expect to see in this guidance?— you expect to see in this guidance? you expect to see in this auidance? , . ., , guidance? i expect to see the same thing — guidance? i expect to see the same thing that _ guidance? i expect to see the same thing that the _ guidance? i expect to see the same thing that the biden - same thing that the biden administration that we've seen in the past and that is they will violate the law and they will violate the law and they will wait for two or three years until lawsuits have worked their way through the federal court system and then, they will have those laws struck down. you saw it with student loans, we are seeing it in other areas. the biden administration has an absolute disregard for our constitution and they will do the same thing here that they've done in the past — able ignore this decision and they've given advice that will put universities at risk. as university should be very resident looking at what the biden administration thinks the lorries and they should rely on their own attorneys because they are the ones that we footing the bill for these lawsuits that are going to be coming down the road as a result of the biden ministration advice. �* ., ministration advice. and final question. _ ministration advice. and final question, what _ ministration advice. and final question, what is _ ministration advice. and final question, what is your - ministration advice. and final i question, what is your message to young teenage students, particularly from the african—american community, who are concerned they will not have the same opportunity to attend university as some of

their colleagues from high school, for example? mr; their colleagues from high school, for example? my advice to them is _ school, for example? my advice to them is look _ school, for example? my advice to them is look at _ school, for example? my advice to them is look at ben - school, for example? my advice to them is look at ben carson i to them is look at ben carson and look at clarence thomas and look at him scott and look at thomas soul and look at so many bright young black students who did very well in this country without any affirmative action help. and achieved great things because they worked hard, studied hard, did not violate the law in any way, did not make bad social decisions. they made the right decisions and they achieved what they wanted to achieve. inaudible king did not talk about give us affirmative action, he talked aboutjudging people based on the content of the character, not the colour of their skin, and that's what the supreme court decision does. congressman, thank you for joining us. congressman, thank you for joining us— around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. voice-over: bbc news - i bringing you different stories from across the uk. nights out are supposed to be fun but that's not always the experience of women and other vulnerable groups. in colchester, money

from the home office safer streets fund has been used to try to make the night—time economy safer. businesses have been offering training for bar and security staff to look out for those needing help. the county's police and crime commissioner hopes the new £4 million fund will mean other areas can now benefit. karen helped create chelmsford's women's safety charter — her research shows women, more than men, feel unsafe in public areas. we still need to focus on hardware, so things like cctv and lighting, because people do report that those things make them feel safer. but i think we also need to focus on prevention. the aim is notjust to reduce crime, but to make sure women and other vulnerable groups feel safer. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. france has deployed 40,000 police office as the country enters its third night

of protests and violence sparked after a 17—year—old boy was killed during a traffic stop in a paris suburb on tuesday. there have been few signs of de—escalation in nanterre, the paris suburb where the boy, known as nahel m, was shot. protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles. violence has been reported in the cities of marseille and nantes, and even across the border in belgium. france's interior minister is spending the night at the national police command center. he says over 400 people have been arrested thus far. 0ur paris correspondent lucy williamson sent in this report. in nanterre today, thousands gathered to mark the void left by one local teenager and the rage that flowed in to fill it. the violence here last night still mapped onto the surrounding streets in ash and debris. nahel�*s mother leading a chant of "police assassins."

evan came from a suburb on the other side of paris but the problems there were just the same, he said. translation: we don't havejobs. we don't get hired if we don't lie on our cv. there is nothing for us. we feel abandoned. and on top of that we get attacked by the people supposed to protect us. this is one offence too many. the march ended this afternoon in a different kind of protest — burning cars, tear gas, clashes with police. 0ne local resident told us her own teenage son had been mistreated by police and that the violence following nahel�*s death was justified. translation: i wouldn't be surprised if the trouble i continues as long as there are no consequences for this police officer. i'm not in the heads of the young people, but what happens here is justified. the police are the delinquents here, not our youth. parents are doing everything they can. the officer is now in custody

and facing a charge of voluntary homicide. france's interior minister said it was time for the violence to stop. translation: last night's riots and burning a school, _ a town hall, a social centre, has nothing to do with what happened in nanterre. those responsible for the troubles should now go home. but no—one we spoke to in nanterre thought the anger here had run its course. what's fuelling these fires isn'tjust rubbish bins and vehicles but decades of frustration with the french state. nahel�*s death triggers wider feelings of grievance, betrayal, inequality and smouldering cars gets the attention of france's leaders in a way smouldering resentments rarely do. thousands of extra police were deployed across the paris region last night. tonight, those numbers are being multiplied again — symbols of the state providing extra security and extra targets.

the uk government's controversial policy to deport asylum seekers to rwanda has been ruled unlawful. three seniorjudges at the court of appeal said rwanda had not provided enough safeguards to prove it was a safe third country. mr sunak said he "fundamentally disagrees" with the ruling. our home editor mark easton has the story. the government's controversial rwanda policy and asylum strategy have been dealt a significant blow today, with the appeal court concluding the east african country is not safe enough for the uk to send asylum seekers there. but the lord chiefjustice, lord burnett, announced it had been a split decision. he thought rwanda was safe, but his two colleagues did not. the deficiencies in the asylum system in rwanda are such that there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk that persons sent to rwanda will be returned to their home countries where they face persecution or other inhumane treatment, when in fact they have a good claim for asylum.

in that sense, rwanda is not a safe third country. the government will be disappointed by today's majorityjudgement. a blow for the home secretary who has expressed her personal enthusiasm for getting flights to rwanda started as soon as possible. but that's not the end of the legal journey. the matter will almost certainly now move to the supreme court for a final hearing later this year. the prime minister could barely contain his anger, issuing a statement saying he fundamentally disagreed with the court's conclusion, insisting rwanda was safe, and that it was britain and its government who should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs. the home secretary, who recently visited migrant accommodation in rwanda, has confirmed the government does intend to appeal. but government lawyers will also be working out whether having no safe country they can lawfully send migrants to means the controversial illegal migration bill is now fatally flawed.

well, the system is rigged against the british people, it's as simple as that. that's why we're changing the laws through our illegal migration bill. that's why we are rolling out a ground—breaking partnership with rwanda, which we believe is lawful, with a country that we believe is safe. so we need to change the system. we need to change our laws. that's how we're going to stop the boats. the government believes the threat of being forcibly removed to east africa will deter people from crossing the channel and entering the uk illegally. however, the home office's own impact assessment says there's little or no evidence that it will work. and in the commons the labour party says there the rwanda policy should be abandoned. this rwanda scheme is unworkable, unethical, extortionately expensive and a costly and damaging distraction from the urgent, practical action we should be taking from the plan labour has set out to stop wasting all this money on a failing scheme. it's a year since a plane loaded with migrants and bound for rwanda sat on the runway of an raf base unable to leave

afterjudges intervened. today's ruling means it will be months, if ever, before any similar flight is cleared for take—off. mark easton, bbc news. scientists say they've found the first evidence of low—frequency gravitational waves that are thought to be constantly rolling through space. the leading theory is that the waves are caused by the merger of super massive black holes at the heart of distant galaxies, as our science correspondent pallab ghosh reports. up in space, at the heart of every galaxy is thought to be a gigantic black hole. here's a real picture of the one at the centre of our own milky way. it's four million times the mass of our sun. it became that big by colliding with other huge black holes inside other galaxies. astronomers atjodrell bank and across the world think they've detected some of these cataclysmic events. pulsars, which are like nature's clocks, really. 0n the dish of the giant lovell telescope, dr hannah middleton

tells me that ideas on how galaxies merge and grow have all been theoretical — until maybe now. we believe that galaxies and the black holes at the centre of them grow over time by mergers. but we haven't got evidence for this as yet. so if this is the signature of these mergers, it teaches us about the formation of galaxies throughout the universe. astronomers have made the detections by measuring the signals coming from spinning objects in space called pulsars, which are flashing stars at the end of their lives. pulsars are the lighthouses of the universe, sending out bursts of radio waves at regular intervals. the researchers noticed that something was changing their speed ever so slightly. they think that it's caused by gravitational waves constantly bombarding the earth. and the source, they believe, is giant black holes in orbit around each other, all across space.

these are at the heart of distant galaxies orbiting each other. the forces between them are so powerful that they distort time and space and send ripples of gravitational waves across the universe. the lovell telescope is among a network of observatories that have picked up these gravitational waves. astronomers want to use them to study the black holes. currently, the signal that we're seeing is a noisy background from all over space. it's a bit like being in a noisy restaurant with people talking all around you. what we hope is that in the near future, we'll be able to zoom in and listen to some individual conversations, take the measurements from individual black holes and be able to really zoom in and study them. the researchers now have a new way to study the cosmos. they hope to learn how galaxies formed and discover new things that may reveal how the universe first came into existence. pallab ghosh, bbc news, at the lovell telescope at jodrell bank.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. at the moment, the weather seems to be changing quite a lot, really from one day to the next. on thursday, we were in cooler, fresher air with some sunshine, a few showers for northern parts of the uk. but on friday the weather's going to look and feel quite different. there'll be a lot of cloud heading our way. it's going to be bringing a bit of rain and drizzle and it will feel more humid as well. and we've seen that cloud beginning to push in on a westerly breeze coming in from the atlantic into western parts of the uk and the cloud will continue to thicken, particularly on those weather fronts

which will bring the rain in from the west. but we could start the day with some early sunshine across eastern scotland and eastern england. don't think it's going to last too long. the cloud continues to stream in on that westerly breeze and it's thick enough to give it a little light rain or drizzle here and there. perhaps things turning a bit wetter through the day in northern parts of northern ireland and into scotland as well. and those temperatures are going to struggle with that cloudy, muggy air, 18 degrees widely, perhaps a little bit higher than that in east anglia and the south east, but nothing special at all. we're going to find those weather fronts taking the thicker cloud and the rain and drizzle away in time for the weekend. and then around that area of low pressure, we've got the winds coming in from the west or northwest and it could be quite blustery through the weekend. strongest winds across northern areas. this is where we're going to find the showers. it'll be sunnier and a bit warmer further south where the winds won't be quite as strong for many. southern parts of the uk may well be a dry day on saturday, with sunny spells further north for northern ireland. also across northern england, southern scotland, more frequent showers in the north and west of the country where it will be particularly windy and temperatures may be

only reaching 16 degrees in glasgow, warm in the sunshine across the east midlands, east anglia and the south—east. 24 degrees here. not too bad at all. second half of the weekend, not too many changes. still some stronger winds in the north. we've got showers, perhaps longer spells of rain in scotland, a few showers for northern ireland and northern england. but further south, better chance of staying dry again and those temperatures getting into the low 20s. so we've got a real difference north south over the weekend heading into next week. it's not a classic summer weather pattern because low pressure is going to be dominating that will bring some showers or longer spells of rain, particularly in the west.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. come on out, you big coward! come on out! it was an earthquake of a ruling. hellfire for you! last summer, millions of americans were blocked from accessing a constitutional right... murder! ..an abortion. a year on, the dust has far from settled, and no more so than in the south.