So a generous interpretation of Roberts’s question is whether the presence of minority students still makes a difference to everyone, since that’s the test an affirmative action program has to meet. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that if UT’s limited use of race did not pass muster, she doubted whether “any holistic review [will] ever survive”. There is, therefore, a high chance that it is one of the reasons why the court session was unable to conclude on the matter.
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Scalia’s remarks reflected arguments made in some of the court papers backing Abigail Fisher, the white applicant who sued the university when denied entry. In June 2015, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the case again. Fisher graduated in 2012 from her second choice school, Louisiana State University.
Kennedy seemed frustrated at the prospect of having to decide the case, which the court largely ducked in a previous encounter in 2013. If the Supreme Court strikes down the policy, colleges will increasingly seek other ways to increase diversity.
Affirmative action in higher education was once again under attack before the Supreme Court Wednesday.
According to Talking Point’s Memo, “The case, Fisher v. University of Texas-Austin, is being brought by a white woman who was not accepted by the university and who says its policy to use race as a factor in a pool of the students it accepts is unconstitutional”.
“Considering race with so many other factors is critical in acknowledging the full depth a student brings to our campus”, Nwora said.
It guaranteed a spot at UT for any student graduating in the top 10 percent of his or her public high school class, and because Texas schools are largely segregated by housing patterns, that has ensured a small, but significant minority enrollment. His language had many on social media calling him a racist. “Really competent blacks” would win admission without such considerations, he said, and those who didn’t might be better off at “slower track schools where they will do better”.
University of San Diego law professor Gail Heriot wrote in one brief that “the nation now has fewer African-American physicians, scientists and engineers than it would have had using race-neutral methods” because of the minority student drop-out rate in some demanding science programs. “Maybe it ought to have fewer”, Scalia continued, emphasis ours. One of the briefs pointed out that “most of the black [scientists] in this country don’t need to come from the University of Texas”.
Wednesday’s arguments were heard by eight of the nine justices.
Rein said the school would have to conduct studies to determine whether there is a “critical mass” of minority students that allows for a “vibrant” exchange of views.
He appeared to be suggesting that for the school to favor the applications of some black high-school students might not be doing them any favor. He added that there is great heterogeneity among students of all races.
The challengers argue that the Bakke ruling was wrong and that the Constitution’s equality guarantee means race can never dictate who gets a place on campus.
“And you had reports of racial isolation and a hostile racial climate with respect to African-Americans and Hispanics – a situation where the University of Texas was clearly not meeting its educational interests, its compelling educational interest in educating the future leaders of Texas”, Garre said.
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Comments made by the Justice Antonin Scalia went viral, although some people think they were taken out of context.
