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The University of Michigan Cases: Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger

On June 23, 2003, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the use of equal opportunity policies. Prior to the decision, several organizations and individuals filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of equal opportunity. Since the decision, many reports assessing equal opportunity in higher education have been published.

Fact Sheets

Court Decisions

  • Grutter v. Bollinger et al. - The official U.S. Supreme Court decision of Grutter v. Bollinger, in which the Supreme Court reaffirmed that universities may take race into consideration as one factor among many factors when selecting incoming students.
  • Gratz v. Bollinger et al. - The U.S. Supreme Court decision of Gratz v. Bollinger, in which the Court upheld the value of student body diversity, but decided that the use of race in the University of Michigan's undergraduate equal opportunity program was not narrowly tailored to achieve the university's asserted interest in diversity. The undergraduate program used a system that assigned points for certain factors such as geography, legacy/alumni relationships, and race, while the law school took a more holistic approach.

Amicus Curiae Briefs

Feature Stories

Reports

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