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SCOTUS Review: Fisher v. University of Texas (Fisher II)

1h 4m

Created on September 19, 2016

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Overview

In a 4-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the holistic race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas at Austin in Fisher II. Under that program, Texas graduates in the top 10 percent of their high school class are guaranteed admission to the state's public university system. The top 10 percent plan accounts for approximately 75% of the students admitted to UT each year. The remaining applicants are evaluated under a holistic admissions program which considers race among a number of factors. In 2012, the Supreme Court held in Fisher I that strict scrutiny requires the university to demonstrate that its use of race in college admissions serves a compelling state interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve those end and that the university is not entitled to deference on the question of narrow tailoring.   

In Fisher II, the Supreme Court concluded that the university articulated a set of concrete and precise goals associated with the educational benefits of diversity: ending racial stereotypes, promoting cross-racial understanding, preparing students for an increasingly diverse workforce and society, and cultivating leaders with the legitimacy in the eyes of the general public. Moreover, the Supreme Court found that the university provided reasoned, principled explanations for its decisions. By affirming the Fifth Circuit decision, the Supreme Court upheld the race-conscious aspect of the university's admissions policy as satisfying the stringent strict-scrutiny standard of review.

How does Fisher II inform the strict scrutiny analysis and the Court's equal protection jurisprudence? This session will address the implications of Fisher II for race conscious admissions plans in higher education more specifically, as well as for race conscious policies more generally.


Learning Objectives:

  1. Review the evolution of Equal Protection jurisprudence and the analysis of strict scrutiny from Bakke to Gratz/Grutter to Hopwood and Fisher I and Fisher II
  2. Assess what strict scrutiny means post Fisher II
  3. Identify what colleges and universities must do in order to demonstrate or document that their race-conscious admissions plans are sufficiently narrowly tailored and what objective criteria might be used in order to assess progress toward achieving the educational benefits of diversity
  4. Evaluate what it means to admit a "critical mass" of underrepresented students, the role of intra-racial diversity, and the extent to which empirical data can and should be used to assess these concepts

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