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right now protests are happening in front of the supreme court after justices handed down another momentous decision. in a 6-3 ruling, the court gutting affirmative action in college admissions, barring the consideration of race as a specific factor in deciding whether to admit a student. >> the transformational ruling once again finds this conservative court scrapping decades of precedent. last hour president biden spoke out against it. republicans, they are praising this decision. we are covering this from all angles, including with jeremy diamond who is live for us at the white house with the very latest. we heard from the president. tell us whaty had has planned. >> reporter: president biden expressing strong dismay at the ruling from supreme court saying that he absolutely disagrees with it, arguing just as the

dissent did in this case that it rolls back of precedent. but the president vowing firmly that this cannot be the last word, saying that the supreme court cannot be the last word on this. in terms of the notion that colleges and universities should continue to try and build diverse classrooms including by taking into consideration race. and the president is proposing a new framework effectively for how those colleges and universities can go about doing that. >> we need a new path forward, a path consistent with the law that protects diversity and expands opportunity. so today i want to offer some guidance to our nation's colleges as they review their admissions systems after today's decision. guidance is consistent with today's decision, they should not abandon -- let me say this again -- they should not abandon their commitment to ensure student bodies of diverse backgrounds and experience that reflect all of america.

>> reporter: and president biden said that he believes the things that the colleges and universities should take into account include a lack of financial means, where a student grew up and went to school, and also considering other hardships including racial discrimination. and that was referencing something in the majority opinion of note that students can talk about their adversity that they have faced including racial adversity, and that that is something that colleges and universities can take into account. the president reaffirming at the end there, saying this three times, that discrimination still exists in america, and that this ruling certainly does not change this, nor should efforts to try and combat discrimination including in colleges and universities. i can tell you that the white house has been working for months on preparing for the potential for the supreme court ruling, and the president today directing the department of education to come up with a list of best practices to provide some guidance for these colleges and universities in this new era that we face. >> a statement that was backed by the attorney general, merrick

garland, who says doj is going to join in that effort to explore ways to keep universities diverse. also joining us in this conversation, cnn's jessica schneider, and legal analyst elliott williams. jessica, first to you, this was a very, very long ruling. a lot to get through. walk us through the important details. >> reporter: a lot to get through. i would bet that colleges, universities across the country are really scouring this decision today because it does leave some gray area here. i mean, the supreme court is saying that you can no longer rely on race for admissions. you can't specifically factor in race when it comes to the admissions decision. they're also saying students, you can still talk about your race and how it's impacted your experience in the world. so colleges will still be getting a glimpse of the racial make-up of some of their applicants here. the court did take specific pains to say we are not overruling 40 years of precedent -- more than 40 years. then the dissent said, well, actually, you definitely are.

now why did the supreme court rule this way? they said that the admissions policies at harvard and unc violated the equal protection clause, and they went point by point to explain why that was. you know, these policies have to be narrowly tailored. and the court said they weren't. they specifically said the admissions programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race. they unavoidably employ race in a negative manner. they involve racial stereotyping, and they lack meaningful end points. so the majority really trying to explain why they had this decision, but of course the dissenters here, the three liberal justices, really ripping them apart, saying they were up-ending decades of precedent and really destroying the ability of these colleges and universities to diversify their student body because they say they're not going to be able to effectively do that without considering race. >> they basically say that the majority is ignoring reality. sonia sotomayor saying in so

holding the court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society. how did this play out in the courtroom today on an issue that no doubt is something that i think is quite divisive between them? and it must have been pretty awkward. >> reporter: it was. it was quite tense, and it's interesting to hear jessica refer to the written documents with the justices saying we're not doing that much here. in the courtroom it was the opposite. chief justice john roberts speaks and says he has the opinion of the court. he had a defiant tone. something he's been long seeking. he's long argued against any kind of race conscious screening of students for colleges and universities. he's actually been against any kind of racial remedies across the board. and what he said was that history, precedent, all say that time is done for these programs, and even what he allowed --

okay, students may speak of race -- for example, in admission essays, but he said what we're saying directly should not be -- should not be fought indirectly. the regimes we are reversing and -- that was the clear message, even if they don't want to say it out loud in their written opinion. this is over. they don't want anything going on in the shadows, as he said. and then after he spoke, clarence thomas, who started by saying that he rarely reads anything from the bench, went on about how stigmatizing, how dangerous racial preferences, as he called them, have been, even to blacks and hispanics. and he highlighted the asian american students who this case was brought on behalf of and said this is a zero-sum game. finally justice sonia sotomayor, the nation's first latina justice, talked about how troubling the majority's ruling was. she said it was profoundly wrong. she spoke on behalf of herself,

justice elena kagan, and the court's first african american female justice, ketanji brown jackson, who during all these 50 minutes of high drama just stared straight out at the spectators and just, you know, just seemed to be quite tense and stone faced in the face of what was happening here. >> such a fascinating dichotomy specifically between clarence thomas and sonia sotomayor, two people who at different points of their lives benefited from affirmative action. clearly both of them very successful. they both went to yale law school in the '70s. yet they have very different views of this issue. >> that's exactly right. you know, we see the polls find that the country is very divided on this. but that, you know, again -- >> i am sorry to interrupt you. students for fair admissions who are the folks who brought the suit, are speaking. let's listen. >> today's decision has started a new chapter in the saga of the history of asian americans in

this country. it marks the promise of new beginning, a resurgence of the principles of the american dream, and a return to the egalitarian principles for all in this shining city on a hill. many people have asked me why i chose to speak out publicly for affirmative action, especially amidst the potential backlash. my answer is simple. if no one is standing up to speak out against the injustices faced by our community, then our well-deserved rights will never be realized. today's victory transcend far beyond those of us sitting in this room today. it belongs to thousands of sleepless high schoolers applying to colleges. it belongs to the overachieving

son of a recently unemployed west virginia coal miner. it belongs to those with the last names of smith or lee, chen or gonzalez. it belongs to all of us who deserve a chance but can now rejoice over the fact that at least our kids can be judged based on their achievements and merits alone. most importantly, it belongs to all of us who believe that if we work hard enough we all can have a chance at getting our own slice of this grand american dream. i firmly believe that diversity is very important for education. the future leaders of america need to have representation across all backgrounds of the society. this is why as i mentioned in my previous speech affirmative action is a well-intentioned idea that is poorly executed in reality. thus, it is my hope to see a

renewed college admissions system that recognizes and rewards the multifaceted talents and diverse perspective that each individual can bring to the table. together let us embark on this transformative journey toward a fairer, more inclusive educational landscape where the potential of our nation's youth knows no bounds. thank you. >> good afternoon. just a few quick words on behalf of mccarthy. we are happy for students of fair admissions and for thousands who make up its membership across the country. we're pleased that the court vindicated the promise of equal protection for all americans. it's a little bittersweet today

because my partner and friend and brother, will constance, is not here today, but i know that he is very proud of our team, and it's very much his brilliance and hard work that is in large part a reason for the result today. >> i have precious little to add to the words that were just spoken by -- elegantly by edward calvin and tom, other than i also think tom mccarthy will for -- >> okay, you were just listening to students for fair admissions which is the group that successfully brought these suits against unc and harvard. and talk a little bit to us, joan, about this group, about their success after earlier efforts -- this is an argument about asian american students,

earlier efforts about white american students did not yield this result. >> that's exactly right. the conservative activists behind this lawsuit, edward bloom, who was in that picture that we all just saw, he didn't speak on camera right then. but he created this group, students for fair admissions, after failing with a young white woman, abigail fisher, who had brought a case against the university of texas at austin. that case had gone on from essentially 2012 to 2016 when the supreme court jewupheld the university of texas at austin program. earlier conservatives had tried with -- again, white students suing, and those cases had been rejected. but the timing of this challenge to this newly conservative court and using asian americans, asian american students were not named in the lawsuit. they did not testify publicly at

all. but this group was able to bring a suit on behalf of asian americans who felt that programs that traditionally had favored blacks and hispanics squeezed them out. so essentially, we're pitting minority group against minority group, and as i said, that had much more salience for the justices. in fact, clarence thomas, when he started his concurrence from the bench, talked about asian americans as if they had been as hurt by these programs as blacks and hispanics. and actually he always thoughts that blacks and hispanics were hurt, not bcht -- not benefittem these programs. >> they were saying asian americans were underrepresented by places like harvard -- >> that's right. they were saying -- edward bloom, the organizer, harkened back to jewish quotas from the early 1900s that ivy league schools had had that capped high-achieving jewish students, and they said this is just like that -- asian americans, highest

-- asian american students are essentially being excluded in favor of what they argued was lower achieving minorities. >> and edward bloom, joan, has talked to him, i've talked to him, he was out at the october arguments. he's made this the fight of his life for nearly a decade now. and he's finally winning on behalf of these asian students in particular. i mean, when we talked to him, he just boiled it down to affirmative action simply is not fair. and that was his view. he's been fighting this through the courts and today got the win. >> elliott, what do you think? especially when we consider the changing narrative of this fight ultimately leading to a victory for this group and for this conservative activist? >> i would piggyback on joan's point. it was certainly a powerful image to see an asian american individual being the one to speak out in the press conference here and also have

been the folks bringing this litigation or at least behind it because it's not an accident when parties before the supreme court or when groups litigating before the supreme court choose their plaintiffs or choose the folks bringing suits, very deliberately. and i think that was the case here and setting up a bit of a -- whether you want to call it tension or opposition, whatever term you wish to use, between asian students and black students was i think quite deliberate and powerful to see. it is still a person of color, a person of a minority group, however want to define it. one other point i would make about today -- and i think the term or the expression elections have consequences is a little bit of a platitude. are you seeing the greatest success by all means of donald trump and his presidency and working with the senate leadership, particularly mitch mcconnell, over the period of those years. this was sort of both between

the affirmative action decision today and the series of abortion decisions recently. you will feel the reverbrations for decades, and regardless of whatever happens, the former president and the legal issues you and i have talked about many times on this program, regardless of what happens there, his imprint as a president, as a nominator of judges is set. and that's the legacy. and an incredibly powerful one. >> we could potentially see it become an issue in the upcoming presidential election, just as roe versus wade, the overturning of that was one during the midterms. a lot of folks to thanks. i'll say thank you to everybody that was part of that conversation. we still have much more to come on "cnn news central" including an unannounced trip to ukraine. former vice president mike pence meeting with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy in kyiv as questions swirl over vladimir putin and his grip on power in russia as a top general has apparently gone unaccounted for. we'll be right back.

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reported that general sergei sorvikin knew about the wagner mercenaries plotting last week's insurrection, and the independent "moscow times" reports he's now in custody. cnn has not confirmed that independently. he's actually among a number of top russian military commanders who have not been seen in public since the failed mutiny. also out of the public eye, the man who led the revolt, wagner's yevgeny prigozhin. the kremlin says the wagner chief was exiled to belarus, but he has not yet been seen there. russia state media saying before the insurrection prigozhin was told that his mercenaries could no longer fight in ukraine, that they would no longer be fighting in that war. cnn's nick paton walsh is following all of those developments, and there are many, from kyiv. nick, no sign yet of many key figures. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. and with that, too, the mystery around the grip on power vladimir putin has does indeed

grow. without knowledge of the fate of these individuals, it's still unclear how in control of the situation he really is. now sergei sorovikin is an important figure not only because he ran the role in ukraine earlier in year and was considered by some in the west to be a dangerously competent, i quote, general in charge of that, but he was also one of the only members of the russian top brass who yevgeny prigozhin, the rebellion leader, spoke of in a complimentary fashion. he also appeared on friday as this rebellion was getting under way, in a video, looking uncomfortable. it seemed to be holding some sort of weapon under his right hand and gave at times a labored address where he basically told the rebels go home, stop this. he's not been seen in public since. so there have been a growing number of reports in the media suggesting that in fact that was because he had been detained. now it isn't clear at this stage if he is still detained or whether that resulted in an arrest for some sort of treachery, whether in fact he

was just being interrogated. and in fact, why a key figure, analyst of life in moscow, a former mp, has suggested that of course there would be a lot of interrogations of key top brass after something like this. there have been people suggesting that maybe sorovikin is fine and there's no problem here at all. whatever the truth, there's now a cloud of suspension hanging over him -- suspicion hanging over him. that will blight how trustworthy he's felt among certain parts of russia's top brass and elite. at the same time it's important to point out that general chief of staff of the russian military who's running the ukrainian war now, he's not been seen since then, as well. so it is common at times, these key military figures to not be around. but there is still yet for vladimir putin another abiding question, and that is where it yevgeny prigozhin. he's meant to be in belarus under the terms of the deal. that's where alexander lukashenko, belarus' president, said he was a couple of days ago, but he's not confirmed that himself. so with each of these questions,

there is another sign that perhaps vladimir putin isn't in control in the way that he would perhaps like to be. and certainly with someone like sorovikin, he may appear in public, he will probably after that have some sort of cloud of suspicion hanging over him, whatever the truth of the past days. and it's that kind of division and finger pointing within the russian top brass that will prove disastrous probably for them in the days ahead in the war in ukraine. the management of it has already been pretty catastrophic with quite a lot of infighting already. now we are looking at what may be described as some sort of purge or clean-out of security forces by a weakened vladimir putin. that could be catastrophic potentially for the decisionmaking in the war. brianna? >> all right. nick paton walsh, thank you so much, live for us in kyiv. boris? the dust certainly not settled yet from this coup. let's continue the conversation. joining us is cnn political and national security an lived david sanger. thank you so much for being with

us. interpreting the inner workings of the kremlin, the power struggles, it's almost sort of an art form. i'm wondering beyond the rumors and speculation what do you imagine is happening right now? should we anticipate another purge? >> well, victor, good to see you. you know, they call it kremlin-ology for a reason because it was hard in the soviet era, and it's hard in the putin-russia era. we know a couple of things. you know, a week ago we would have said that putin's control over his own military was complete and total. we now know that there is suspicion about one very senior general, as we've just discussed. and it would be hard to imagine that he would be the only one. p opene's got to be -- putin's got to be worried that when the uprising began the wagner forces

made it down to 150, 125 miles from moscow without any real significant opposition from the russian military. now, we don't know if that's because they were cooperaticoop because they were ignorant, because they had all decided to take a lunch break at that convenient time. but that's what happened. we also know that when he did take over the military operations center close to ukraine there were pictures of him having coffee with the russian commanders there. so it's not entirely clear that the russian military was completely on putin's side until it became evident that this wasn't going to work and that prigozhin was not going to go all the way to moscow. >> david, to the question of pitt prigozhin's whereabouts, we've been tracking planes linked to him. he's supposedly in belarus.

the planes were apparently there, then they were spotted in st. petersburg in different parts of russia. it's likely a good thing for his health that we don't know exactly where he is, right? >> that's right. and it's hard for me to imagine that he would go to belarus which is basically a paid for subsidiary and proxy country for the russians. it would strike me that if he believed that the deal -- whatever deal it was he was putting together with putin was falling apart, belarus would be a pretty dangerous place for him. it did appear that the deal they struck had to do with the uprising over the weekend. then suddenly putin in his speech yesterday was talking about how much money the russians had actually given to the wagner group for catering, for other work. and suggested that there may be

investigations into whether there was corruption or fraud in all of that. some people here, you know, read that as an indication that maybe they were looking to get him on other charges that wouldn't be covered by the deal that was put together over the weekend. >> still difficult to see how that deal might hold in place, at least the details that we've seen so far. david sanger in new york, thank you so much. >> sure. coming up, more on our top story as the supreme court guts affirmative action except -- and this is notable -- at military service academies. the military community reacting to what is really a big carve-out here. plus, deadly heat spreading across the south. how hot it could get and when we could get relief. my most t important kitchen tool?

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we are staying on top of one of the day's biggest stories. right now we're getting reaction from capitol hill to that major ruling from the supreme court gutting affirmative action for college admissions. let's take you straight to cnn's manu raju who's on capitol hill for us. you're getting reaction from lawmakers. what are they saying? >> reporter: yeah, it's been really flooding in all day in the aftermath of this historic ruling essentially gutting affirmative action using race as a factor in the college admission process. democrats in particular outraged. one democrat after another saying that the supreme court has gone much further than it should have gone and essentially ending racial progress in this country. that is the words from a number of top democrats, some senate majority leader on down. including one top democrat,

hakeem jeffries, the first black leader of any party in congress, issuing a statement saying that right-wing ideologues on the supreme court gutted reproductive freedom last year. the very same extremists just obliterated consideration of racial diversity in college admissions. they clearly want to turn back the clock, we will never let that happen. clearly much different reaction among republicans who say that affirmative action in their view is essentially allowing discrimination to persist in the college admission process. that was how senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who has been central in pushing the supreme court to the right, how he described this ruling which he's supporting. he said today's ruling makes clear that colleges may not continue discriminating against bright and ambitious students based on the color of their skin. we're hearing this along the lines of republicans who are african american like senator tim scott who's running for president supporting this ruling, as well as others, republicans who are black, also saying that this ruling

essentially should -- it was positive in their view. but african american lawmakers on the democratic side, namely the congressional black caucus, questioning the legitimacy of the supreme court in the aftermath of this ruling. so a lot of rhetoric on both sides of the aisle, boris. unclear if any legislative action will happen. the democrats who control the senate are not making any plans to move forward on any legislation. and even if they did, boris, getting that through congress, both chamber of commerce of congress simply, almost certainly wouldn't happen. >> yeah. very divisive era on capitol hill. thank you so much for walking us through that. and plenty of implications not just in higher education for this decision. >> that's right. today's historic decision had a specific carve-out for military academies. it actually allows them to continue considering race in admissions. our next guest signed onto a friend of the court brief supporting affirmative action programs. joining us now is cnn military

analyst and former nato supreme allied commander retired general wesley clark. sir, thank you for making time for us today. you explored this in the amicus brief with other top military le leaders. how do you see this affecting military readiness and national secu security? >> i think there are national security implications to this. the military academies are excluded from the supreme court ruling, and that's clear. but about 70% of our officer corps comes through rotc, through ordinary colleges. some from harvard, some from princeton, and some from all over america. and there's no lateral entry into the officer corps. whatever comes out at the top as colonels, brigadier generals, full generals, started at the bottom as lieutenants and ensigns. that's the way it works. and so the ruling does impact

these civilian institutions which are providing us the majority of the junior officers that later go on to lead our armed forces. so there is an impact. >> explain the problems that the armed forces see when you have military officers who are pretty homogenous leading an armed forces that is not, that is more representative of the country m. >> we like the armed forces to be representative of the country and also want the leadership to be representative of the force. so it's a wonderful thing when you have 40% of your nco corps say minority, they can look and see a colin powell at the top. they know they've got people there who understand some of the issues that they face, not necessarily in uniform, but maybe out of uniform or outside and off base. this is important, and so we

don't want an officer corps that's unrepresentative of the force. and that's why there's a national security impact from this. >> as you mentioned, the majority of the officers come from rotc programs at nonservice academies like harvard, like unc, other colleges, because there is an exemption for service academies in this ruling. what do you make of that exemption? >> i think it's the right thing to do. i'm glad there's an exemption for the service academies. but that's 30% of the officer corps. and so that leads the other 70% at the vagaries of the admissions process, and whatever institution they're going to. i hope it works out. there's no way of knowing if it will. we too know it -- we do know it is a change from the current system, and we've got some great young men and women coming up

through the armed forces in junior officer ranks, in part because of the system that was put in place to look at people's backgrounds, as well as their academic qualifications. >> on this exemption, justice ketanji brown jackson writes in her disent, quote, the court has come to rest on the bottom line conclusion that racial diversity in higher education is only worth potentially preserving insofar as it might be needed to prepare black americans and other underrepresented minorities for success in the bunker, not the boardroom. what do you think -- do you agree with that? what's your reaction to that? >> i think she's just referring to the service academies. but maybe she didn't understand that 70% of the junior officers don't come from service academies. so even if you're only interested in preparing people to meet national security requirements, it's broader than the service academies. that's the simple truth about

this. you know, when there was a draft, every student in a land grant college, every male student, had to join rotc. that's not the case anymore, and so they have to apply. they get scholarships and so forth. but they've got to be admitted to the college to be able to get the scholarship. so we hope this isn't going to have an adverse impact, but it certainly looks like it will have an -- an adverse impact. that is the purpose of the supreme court ruling. >> yeah. and certainly a reminder this year the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer force. a big year for the armed forces. general, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you. still ahead, more than 100 million americans urged to stay indoors today as smoke from canadian wildfires drifts south. this is a live picture of

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a dozen states. the bad air is again coming from the smoke caused by canadian wildfires. meteorologist chad myers is in the cnn weather center. chad, the midwest bore the brunt yesterday, the northeast and even parts of the mid-atlantic bearing it today. >> i know, and right now i have behind me pittsburgh, pennsylvania. the parts per million in pittsburgh now, 230. that's unhealthy for anybody to be out there at this point in time. here in atlanta, our number is 130. but inside the building, i bought this on amazon, like $20, it will tell me what my number is inside. i know that's hard for you to read, but it's 14. that's like ten times less air product quality here outside than here. so we're ten times better air inside than what you expect, and that's exactly how that's going to go. this is what pittsburgh looks like right now, and it is going to look like that for a while.

there's major, major weather, though, rolling through illinois right now. and that's pushing a lot of this smoke away. we have a live picture from chicago right now. a little bit better, especially to your southwest. this big event, this big, severe thunderstorm event rolling through illinois and pushing all of the smoke away. that is at least some of the good news. back to the heat across parts of texas, it is going to be another hot day there. it is going to be a dreadful day with temperatures again over 100. the feels-like temperatures in parts of louisiana are going to be 130. here are the air quality numbers from d.c. to chicago and detroit, all above 100. pittsburgh, obviously you're higher than that at this point in time. it comes and goes. the wind mixes it up. visibility is down in many areas. this is what the smoke's going to look like here over the next couple of days. the wind will blow much of it away and into the northeast from the midwest. for your tomorrow and for your saturday, a lot of the haze gets pushed off to the east.

the heat stays down to the south where the heat dome is just right over texas, louisiana, mississippi, all the way through atlanta. excessive heat warnings for millions of people here. the feels-like temperature in shreveport is 111. in grand isle larks la, a little bit ago i saw a number of 117. and remember, these numbers are in the shade. you step out into the sun, it's going to feel warmer than this. so yes, the smoke is here, the humidity and the heat is down to the south. i'm afraid both of them here to stay for a couple more days. i think this might be the worst for everyone today. it gets better from here except maybe mobile, pensacola, going to still be hot down there. boris? >> yeah. the heat excruciating in some parts and fatal in some cases. 11 people killed in webb county, texas. another two succumbing to the heat in louisiana. chad myers, thank you so much for the update. next, as night falls in europe, france is preparing for

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france is bracing for more unrest in the streets as night is falling there. some 40,000 police and paramilitary officers have been mobilized in anticipation of more riots and protests. this all erupting after police shot and killed a 17-year-old boy during a traffic stop. we are learning that the officer has now been charged. cnn's melissa bell is live for us in paris. this arrest, are you expecting that it's going to ease any tensions there tonight?

>> reporter: that's looking unlikely tonight because of the deep rooted and long-standing pent-up nature of the anger that you're seeing that has spilled out on the streets of suburban paris again this afternoon around that march that had been called for by the mother of the young -- just to remind you, he was 17 years old, stopped by a policeman, a traffic stop. killed by the policeman who's now been officially suspended and kept. that investigation continues, but that anger really likely to spill over again. some 40,000 police men and women have been mobilized out onto the streets of france today. we saw 150 arrests last night at schools, plaolice stations, anything that was targeted, burned, taken over by protesters. you're likely to see that again tonight. that is something the sun and -- something the country is bracing

for. because there have been so many cases the last few years of police brutality that has sometimes led to fatalities as we've seen in the case of young nahel and fears felt by the communities involved of systemic racism on their part. brianna? >> really tapping into something bigger here. melissa bell, thank you for that report from paris for us. boris? coming up on "cnn news central," new details on the supreme court's decision to gut affirmative action in the college application process as the white house reveals it is now preparing potential executive action. we'll be right back. i'm saving h liberty mutual, mom. they customize your car insurance so you only payy for what you need. check it out, you could save $700 dollars just by switching. ooooh, i'll look into that. let me put a reminder onon my phone. save $700 dollars. pick up dad from airport? ohhhhhh. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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