Affirmative action: US Supreme Court overturns race-based college admissions

The US Supreme Court has overturned the practice of considering an applicant's race during university admissions.

The ruling upends decades-old US policies on so-called affirmative action, also known as positive discrimination.

It is one of the most contentious issues in US education.

Affirmative action first made its way into policy in the 1960s, and has been defended as a measure to increase diversity.

The cases heard by the justices concerned admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC).

In the ruling, the court said: "Such [race-based] admission programs must comply with strict scrutiny, may never use race as a stereotype or negative, and must - at some point, end."

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that while the UNC and Harvard admissions programmes were "well intentioned", they "fail each of these criteria".

"Universities may define their missions as they see fit," Justice Roberts wrote. "The Constitution defines ours."