College affirmative action back on Supreme Court’s horizon

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

When the Supreme Court in 2003 narrowly approved the consideration of race in public university admission decisions, it came with loads of restrictions and a sort of expiration date.

“We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today,” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote for the majority in Grutter v. Bollinger .

But, of course, O’Connor is now retired from the court, replaced by Samuel A. Alito Jr., a justice far more skeptical of racial remedies. And two recent decisions in lower courts have raised the prospect that the issue will return to the high court far ahead of O’Connor’s timeline.

One is from Texas, where a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld a race-conscious admissions policy at the University of Texas at Austin. An attempt to have the entire circuit hear the case failed 9-7, and dissenters practically invited the Supreme Court to step in.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/college-affirmative-action-back-on-supreme-courts-horizon/2011/07/28/gIQApXnwlI_story.html

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Supreme Court cases involving affirmative action in college:
- Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), admissions dispute in the UC Davis medical school, ruled against racial quotas
- Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), University of Michigan Law School; this case was argued with Gratz v. Bollinger involving Michigan undergraduate admissions. The Gratz case ruled against Michigan's admissions point system that granted extras to minorities. The Grutter case upheld Michigan law school's similar AA policy. Also abrogated Hopwood v. Texas, a case that banned the U of Texas law school from using race as factor in admissions.

[bluestateguy]

1. Anti AA Conservatives should just patiently wait their 25 years before trying again

They've got 17 more years to go before they can get their wish.

[No Elephants]

2. Affirmative action is not about only African Americans.