After approximately 9 months of deliberation, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling on Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin this week. The Court sent the case back to the lower courts with instructions to review the University’s Affirmative Action policy with “strict scrutiny” before rendering a decision. While allowing Affirmative Action in college admissions to stand, the Court stated in its ruling that schools must prove there are “no workable race-neutral alternatives” to achieve diversity on campus.
Case Overview
The University of Texas admissions policy gives automatic admittance to students who finish in the top 10% of their Texas high school class. Students not in the top 10% of their high school graduating class who apply to the University are then run through a rubric to determine whether or not they may attend the school. A student’s race is part of that rubric.
In 2008, Abigail Fisher, a white woman, was denied admission into the University of Texas. She then sued the school claiming that she was denied admittance because of race and that other lesser qualified minorities were given admittance to the school while she was not.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a summary judgment in favor of the University of Texas. Fisher appealed the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. After hearing the case several months ago, the Court issued its decision on Monday, June 24, 2013.
The U.S. Supreme Court stated that the district court’s grant of summary judgment was incorrect because it deferred to the University’s “good faith efforts” in their consideration of race as a factor in admissions. Rather, the lower court should have held the University to the demanding burden of “strict scrutiny” as articulated in Grutter v. Bollinger, and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.
The Court vacated the summary judgment and remanded the case back to the lower court to conduct a review with “strict scrutiny” of the University of Texas admissions policy before rendering a decision.
In the Courts opinion, Justice Kennedy wrote:
“Strict scrutiny does not permit a court to accept a school’s assertion that its admissions process uses race in a permissible way without closely examining how the process works in practice, yet that is what the District Court and Fifth Circuit did here. The Court vacates the Fifth Circuit’s judgment. But fairness to the litigants and the courts that heard the case requires that it be remanded so that the admissions process can be considered and judged under a correct analysis. In determining whether summary judgment in the University’s favor was appropriate, the Fifth Circuit must assess whether the University has offered sufficient evidence to prove that its admissions program is narrowly tailored to obtain the educational benefits of diversity.”
Next Fall the Supreme Court will hear another case involving Affirmative Action and college admissions. In Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, the issue to be decided is whether or not the state of Michigan violated the Equal Protection Clause by amending its state constitution to prohibit race- and sex-based discrimination or preferential treatment in public-university admissions decisions. The amendment to Michigan’s Constitution was added by a voter-approved ballot measure. It’s interesting to note that the original measure included a ban on using race in state employment decisions and in awarding state contracts. The Sixth Circuit Court struct down the measure to only apply to college admissions.
Unviersity of Texas Press Conference About U.S. Supreme Court Decision
Additional Resources:
- Download: Full U.S. Supreme Court Decision (PDF, right click and “save as” to download)
- SCOTUSblog: The Fisher Argument in Plain English
- SCOTUSblog: Opinion Recap: More Rigorous Race Review