Supreme Court will rule on affirmative action case from Texas

[TexasTowelie]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court will once again confront the issue of race in university admissions in a case brought by a white student denied a spot at the flagship campus of the University of Texas.

The court said Tuesday it will return to the issue of affirmative action in higher education for the first time since its 2003 decision endorsing the use of race as a factor in admissions. This time around, a more conservative court is being asked to jettison that ruling and outlaw affirmative action in the university setting.

A federal appeals court upheld the Texas program at issue.

The case will be argued in the fall.


http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_20009604

Cross-posted in Race & Ethnicity group.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/118627

[TexasTowelie]

1. More coverage from the San Antonio Express-News:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/High-court-to-take-new-look-at-affirmative-action-3346286.php

[sonias]

2. very concerning

The Lowdown on Higher ED blog AAS 2/21/12
U.S. Supreme Court to review UT admissions

(snip)

The high court has changed since its 5-4 decision in the Grutter case. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who wrote that decision, has retired, and her replacement, Samuel Alito, joined in a 2007 opinion limiting the ability of school districts to use race in assigning students to schools.

What’s more, the newest justice, Elena Kagan, who some would have expected to side with the court’s liberal wing in support of UT’s policy, is not taking part in the case. That is apparently an effort to avoid a conflict or the appearance of a conflict; Kagan was solicitor general when the Justice Department weighed in on behalf of UT in the lower courts.

UT has struggled with questions of race for decades. In 1950, a unanimous Supreme Court ordered the university to admit a black applicant to the law school who had been rejected solely because state law barred blacks from the university.

In 1996, UT’s use of affirmative action was effectively banned by the 5th Circuit in the Hopwood case. That prompted the Legislature to enact a program granting automatic admission to students graduating in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

Looks like the conservative wing on SCOTUS has this one in the bag.

[sonias]

3. Supreme Court To Revisit Affirmative Action In University Of Texas Case

Huffington Post 2/21/12

Supreme Court To Revisit Affirmative Action In University Of Texas Case

(snip)

The state's top 10 percent law was passed as a race-neutral way of facilitating diversity on campus after a federal appeals court in 1996 banned affirmative action in Texas' public universities. Then in 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court -- in a majority opinion written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor for herself and the Court's four liberals -- approved of certain types of race-conscious admissions practices in higher education for the purpose of achieving a diverse student body. In response, the University of Texas reinstated affirmative action, this time to assess applicants who would not be automatically admitted under the top 10 percent law.

Abigail Noel Fisher was one such student. In Fisher v. University of Texas, she claims that she was unconstitutionally denied admission because she is white. Texas argues that the use of race in its admissions process is indistinguishable from the University of Michigan Law School practices that the Supreme Court approved in 2003.

Unfortunately for Texas, that argument may no longer hold sway at the high court. Justice Samuel Alito, a reliable conservative vote, has since replaced O'Connor, a notable swing vote. In 2007, Alito joined with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas to strike down affirmative action programs in public high schools in an opinion that concluded, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."