Monday’s decision in Berger v. American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina reversed a previous federal court ruling that deemed the “choose life” licenses plates unconstitutional, since the state didn’t provide an option that supported abortion rights.
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The case was brought by Abigail Fisher, who argues that her 2008 rejection by UT’s flagship institution occurred because of the university system’s affirmative action policy.
The court granted a request by women’s health providers, which had asked the court to temporarily put on hold a 5th USA Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from June 9.
The case, to be heard in the fall, could pose a threat to the college and university policies across the nation that include admission preferences for qualified minority students.
Under that scheme, the university must admit the top 10 percent of graduates at each high school in the state.
The appeals court – one of the most conservative in the country – again sided with the school, prompting Fisher’s attorneys to seek the high court’s review a second time.
“Those decisions establish that universities may consider race – when narrowly tailored to their compelling interest in student body diversity”, Mr. Garre wrote.
Most students admitted to UT get in under what’s called the 10 percent rule.
The question with UT-Austin is whether it has such race-neutral alternatives.
Because of segregated housing patterns throughout Texas, the 10 percent plan has resulted in racially-diverse enrollments at the university. “The Supreme Court has already affirmed that right”. “At best, the university’s attempted articulations of ‘critical mass’ before this court are subjective, circular or tautological”, the dissent says.
“These articulations are insufficient”.
However, the school also considers race as part of a secondary admissions policy that is being challenged.
The order to rehear the case came after the justices ruled 5-4 last week that Texas could refuse to issue Confederate battle flag plates. In 2013, the court largely kicked the can down the road.
The Supreme Court heard the same case in 2012, but remanded it back to the lower court with the university’s admissions policies unchanged. The Court should “strike down UT’s unjustified use of race”, Fisher’s lawyers said in Court briefs.
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The justices said universities must exhaust all other options to achieve the desired racial diversity on campus before heading to race based admissions policies. “As is evident from their desire to eliminate racial preferences in education altogether, the real problem for petitioner and her amici is this court’s decisions…”
