United States Supreme Court Upholds Affirmative Action

REPRINT: Release from Hurt, Norton & Associates

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 4-3 decision that it is lawful for the University of Texas at Austin to consider race when determining student admissions.

The case centered on Abigail Fisher, a white woman who was denied admission to the school in 2008. Fisher argues that the school’s use of race in the college admissions process is unconstitutional since it already has the top 10 percent plan, which guarantees admission to students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

The university argued that race was just one factor in its holistic review of students and that Fisher wouldn’t have been accepted even if she was minority student because she did not have the academic score needed to get into the school’s highly competitive liberal arts program. Because Fisher has already graduated from another school, the university further argued that the case should have been dismissed.

In the majority opinion written by Justice Anhothy Kennedy, the justices said the school cannot rely on its top 10 percent plan alone to achieve diversity.

“It may be true that the Top Ten Percent Plan is some instances may provide a path out of poverty for those who excel at schools lacking in resources the plan cannot serve as the admissions solution that petitioner suggest,” Kennedy wrote.

Though the court said the admissions plan was lawful under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, it said the university must continue “to scrutinize the fairness of its admissions program, to assess whether changing demographics have undermined the need for race-conscious policy, and to identify the effects, both positive and negative, of the affirmative-action measures it deems necessary.”

The justices appeared closely divided during when oral arguments were heard in January. Justice Elena Kagan’s recusal from the case had court watchers expecting a 4-4 tie, but Justice Antonin Scalia's unexpected death a month later left just seven justices to decide the case. 

If and how Scalia had ruled in this case is unknown. Any vote cast in case that has not publicly been announced is void when a justice dies.

This was the second time the Texas case has come before the court. In 2013, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower courts in a 7-1 decision. The justices said the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals failed to apply the correct standard of strict scrutiny in upholding the university's policy. 

Because the 5th Circuit ruled again in favor of the university, the case found its way back before the hight court.

Carol Graves Holladay

Hurt, Norton & Associates

503 Capitol Court, NE Suite 200

Washington, DC 20002