American Civil Rights Institute Blog

5th Circuit to Hear Arguments in Texas Racial Preferences Case

Abigail Fisher and Rachel Michalewicz are suing the University of Texas (UT) at Austin (Fisher v. University of Texas), alleging racial discrimination in admissions. After losing in district court, the plaintiffs appealed to the 5th Circuit. The Texas Tribune reports that the 5th Circuit will hear arguments next month.

If the plaintiffs lose the case, they may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the court agrees to hear the case, the nine justices will once again grapple with race-based admissions.

The court likely would review its previous decision in Gratz v. Bollinger, in which Jennifer Gratz sued the University of Michigan for racial discrimination in undergraduate admissions. The court ruled that the school’s use of race violated the Equal Protection Clause. The court definitely would look to Grutter v. Bollinger, in which it upheld the University of Michigan law school’s use of race in admissions. Why did the court outlaw preferences in one case and uphold them in another? Michigan’s use of race in law school admissions was relatively subtle compared to undergraduate admissions.

UT uses a so-called holistic approach to admission. It bases admissions decisions on whether applicants graduated in the top 10 percent of their Texas high school graduating classes, where they fall along the socioeconomic continuum, and the percentage of minorities currently enrolled in the schools. The lower court decided this practice was constitutional, based on Grutter.

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010, by La Shawn Barber and is filed under "Diversity, Judiciary ". Both comments and pings are currently closed.