SCOTUS Rules On Affirmative Action Admissions

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Supreme Court sidesteps big ruling on Texas affirmative action - CNN.com

By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
updated 3:33 PM EDT, Mon June 24, 2013

Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court sidestepped a sweeping decision on the use of race-conscious school admission policies, ruling Monday on the criteria at the University of Texas and whether it violates the equal protection rights of some white applicants.
The justices threw the case back to the lower courts for further review.
The court affirmed the use of race in the admissions process, but made it harder for institutions to use such policies to achieve diversity.
The 7-1 decision avoids the larger constitutional issues.

In ruling narrowly, the court reaffirmed earlier decisions allowing for a limited use of race-conscious public policies.
"The attainment of a diverse student body serves values beyond race alone, including enhanced classroom dialogue and the lessening of racial isolation and stereotypes," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy in the majority opinion.
Ex-student challenges university's affirmative action policy
But Kennedy said that such admissions programs must withstand close review.
Kennedy said the "university must prove that the means chosen" to attain diversity "are narrowly tailored to that goal," adding that the highest level of legal standard must be met before institutions use diversity programs.
"Strict scrutiny (of the policy) imposes on the university the ultimate burden of demonstrating, before turning to racial classification, that available, workable race-neutral alternatives do not suffice," he said.

The state of Texas provides for a hybrid admissions policy: Automatic acceptance to its university's main campus in Austin for in-state students finishing in the top 10 percent of their high schools, ensuring a measure of non-subjective diversity. Three-fourths of the in-state student body get in this way.
Fisher just missed that opportunity, so had to compete in a separate pool of students seeking to attend the highly competitive school. It is that selection process that was before the court.
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African-Americans in Texas as a whole represent about 12 percent of the overall population, but only make up about 5 or 6 percent of University of Texas admissions.
The high court will get another crack at the issue this fall in a separate appeal.
The justices will decide the constitutionality of a voter referendum in Michigan banning race- and sex-based discrimination or preferential treatment in public university admission decisions. Oral arguments are likely in October.

 

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