On June 23, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling on Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a legal challenge on the use of race-inclusive admissions policies on college and university campuses. UT-Austin’s race-conscious admissions policy was upheld by a 4-3 vote. Justices Kennedy, Sotomayor, Ginsberg, and Breyer affirmed the ruling; Chief Justice Roberts was joined by Justices Alito and Thomas in dissent.
The case was first introduced to the courts eight years ago when the plaintiff, then high-school senior Abigail Fisher, claimed that the university’s admissions policy was in violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and called into question the constitutionality of Affirmative Action (Fisher, a Caucasian woman, was denied to attend UT-Austin). The case was sent back to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas, challenging the court to rule on whether the race-conscious admissions policies met strict scrutiny under the law. The Fifth Circuit Court upheld its original ruling in favor of the university; Fisher appealed to the Supreme Court a second time.
In Justice Samuel Alito’s dissent, he stated that Texas’ Top 10% Rule takes care of the diversity problem. He explained by noting the differences between the high-schools across the state and that in accepting these students, they are inherently accepting a diverse group of students. He posed the question, “What do these students lack [in their diversity]?”, saying that the university failed in giving the court an accurate definition of what the problem was , a burden placed on them when it was sent back to the lower courts.
However, Justice Anthony Kennedy pointed out that only 25% of incoming freshmen to UT-Austin are subject to holistic review, a process that takes into account other factors aside from academic achievement in the admissions process. Although race is one of these factors, he stated that it was a “factor, of a factor, of a factor” and that the university did a sufficient job in demonstrating its goals to increase diversity on campus. In the majority opinion, the Justices articulated that UT’s policy was narrowly tailored to use race-inclusive policies for admission.