By Vinay Harpalani, University of New Mexico School of Law. On October 1, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued its much anticipated ruling in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard. Almost one year after the trial began, Judge Allison D. Burroughs ruled that Harvard’s race-conscious admissions policy did not violate Title … Continue reading The Supreme Court and the Future of Affirmative Action
On this day in 2003, the Supreme Court decided Grutter v. Bollinger, one of the Court’s most important rulings on the constitutionality of affirmative action. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court upheld the admissions policy of the University of Michigan Law School, which used race as one factor in its evaluation of applicants. Challenging the … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History—June 23, 2003
On this day in 2014 the Supreme Court announced its opinion in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action. The case involved a 2006 amendment to the Michigan constitution, approved by a statewide referendum, that prohibited “all sex- and race-based preferences” in public education, employment, and contracting. The referendum was organized in response to Grutter … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History—April 22, 2014
Guest Post by Vinay Harpalani, Associate Professor of Law, Savannah Law School Thursday’s decision in Fisher v. Texas II came down exactly 13 years to the day after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger—which created the basic legal framework for affirmative action in university admissions. And more than eight years after Abigail … Continue reading The Fishing Expedition is Over: Victory for Affirmative Action in Fisher v. Texas
The line on Justice Kennedy is that he’s tough to predict. Ever since Justice O’Connor’s retirement, he’s been the Supreme Court’s swing vote, and the swing of the swing vote introduces an element of suspense to many of the most contentious Supreme Court cases. His vote, to a greater extent than any of his colleagues, … Continue reading The Unpredictable Justice Kennedy
Guest post by Vinay Harpalani, Associate Professor at Savannah Law School On Wednesday, December 9, for the second time, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. The question in Fisher II is the exactly the same it was in Fisher I: does the University of Texas at … Continue reading The Fishing Expedition Continues: Will there be a Fisher III?
Guest Post by Vinay Harpalani, Associate Professor of Law, Savannah Law School In its October 2015 term, the U.S. Supreme Court will once again consider the constitutionality of race-conscious admissions policies. On June 29, the Court surprised many observers when it granted Abigail Fisher’s petition for a writ of certiorari in Fisher v. Texas (II)—two years after its … Continue reading Fisher v. Texas, the Remix
The Supreme Court has finally released—and Oyez has made available—audio recordings of last Term’s opinion announcements. Most of these announcements are summaries of majority opinions, but there are also a few oral dissents. Standard practice on the Supreme Court is for only the author of the opinion of the Court to read a summary of … Continue reading A Look Back—Justice Sotomayor’s First Oral Dissent
On Tuesday, for the first time in her five years on the Supreme Court, Justice Sotomayor read a dissent from the bench. This was in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, the case in which the six-justice majority upheld Michigan’s ban on racial preferences in its public universities. Oral dissents, as a relatively unusual … Continue reading Justice Sotomayor’s First Oral Dissent
Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court will decide on another affirmative action case this Term. Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, though, is different from the previous Term’s case in its central premise. Learn the background of the case from Professor Vinay Harpalani of Chicago-Kent College of Law.