Civil Rights and Education Groups File Brief in Supreme Court Case in Support of Univ. of Texas’s Admissions Policy

WASHINGTON – Sixteen civil rights and education groups have joined The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center in filing an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a reconsideration of an identical case the Court heard just two years ago.  

The admissions policy used by the University of Texas was ruled constitutional by the Court in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger, which acknowledged that diversity is a compelling state interest and that it is constitutional for universities to use race as one of numerous factors when making individualized admissions decisions to further that diversity interest.

In 2012, the Supreme Court heard the identical case, remanding it to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which again ruled that the university’s carefully crafted admissions policy was constitutional.

This case is a challenge to the Fifth Circuit’s reconsideration. The Leadership Conference and Southern Poverty Law Center brief argues that the University’s admissions policy is necessary in order for students to receive the vast and critical benefits associated with diverse campus environments. The brief also makes the argument that the current role of race in America provides crucial context for the Court’s consideration of the questions posed in Fisher. The brief details the ongoing backdrop of racial disparities in American society by pointing to the recent, alarming displays of violence against young Black men at the hands of police, and citing data on persistent racial gaps in educational attainment, income, and incarceration.

As the Supreme Court noted in Grutter, “The nation’s future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure to the ideas and mores of students as diverse as this Nation of many peoples.” Affirming this principle, the brief notes:

Universities provide the first real forum for most students to engage in meaningful cross-racial interactions inside and outside the classroom. Not only does this result in a better education, but it provides exposure to those from different backgrounds and experiences, creating an environment in which racial understanding and coexistence is the norm. (Pg. 4)

“At a time of increasingly harmful racial divides in our neighborhoods, schools, work places, and prisons, U.T. Austin’s effort to provide the most diverse and academically enriched campus for its students should be commended as a model for our country. Our nation should be expanding our commitment to diversity and opportunity, not diminishing it,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “We are confident that the Court will adhere to its own precedent and reaffirm that it is constitutional for universities to consider race as one of numerous factors they may use in making individualized admissions decisions.”

Click here for a PDF of the brief.

A full list of signers is below:

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
Andrew Goodman Foundation
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Demos
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
League of Women Voters of the United States
National Action Network (NAN)
National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)
National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
The National LGBTQ Task Force (Task Force)
New Leaders
New York Appleseed
Southern Poverty Law Center
Teach for America

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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