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Affirmative Action Headed Back to Supreme Court

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    Should race be used as a consideration for college admissions?

  • Duration 4:07
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There's an interesting case that's heading back potentially to the US Supreme Court regarding affirmative action in colleges and universities and whether race.

Can be used as a consideration.

In admissions.

May remember in the late 1970s.

The -- -- -- case when all the way to the Supreme Court.

And it held that -- racial quotas.

Were not proper on -- that was so later modified -- Michigan case back in 2003.

And now it looks like the entire issue of affirmative action in college admissions he's been revisited.

Seth -- like EA joining us founding net and managing partner of the -- -- slide Leonard.

It talk to us about this case how this happened where did it began.

Well it's a very interesting case.

-- -- -- -- At the time an eighteen year old white female applicant to the University of Texas was denied admission.

She filed a lawsuit alleging constitutional violations.

And violations of her civil rights on the basis that the admission standards that apply dad did not allow her -- Included racial factors as a part of the admissions process she went through the litigation.

Streamline and ultimately it went up to the court of appeals for the fifth circuit the appellate court in Texas that ruled in favor of the school.

Concluding based upon the the that our prior cases that you very carefully laid out.

That it's okay under certain limited circumstances to use race as -- factor not as a quota.

Not as -- determining factor but as a factor this blended into the overall picture.

To determine whether or not someone would ultimately be applied an admitted up to the university.

What's interesting in this situation is that.

There has been a a petition filed for review by the United States Supreme Court and the Supreme Court seriously reviewing that right now.

In their briefs that will be filed by next week.

And the Supreme Court we're making -- determination of whether for the first time in around a decade it will go in and re apply its constitutional analysis to this important issue.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for a five to four majority in the Michigan case back in 2003 quote we expect.

The 25 years from now the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest improved.

Approved today.

Our men and she may have been pressure and and and it may be eight years instead of 25 years do you think this is going to be a contentious.

Decision it'll split the court.

It.

Will be contentious and it will be a split decision I predict that the court will allow the the appeal to move forward because under the court's internal procedures.

The -- has to file a so called petition to get permission for review I predict that they will accept this and that they will go in and look at this very carefully.

And you're exactly right justice Sandra Day O'Connor predicted.

And I believe that some of that on the authority actually started back in the 1970s.

With a balky decision so it really was a very interesting that there was a prediction that if we look through the constitutional lens maybe 25 years -- the future.

Then we may be looking at things differently and you know what that's exactly what may be happening here the Supreme Court might be saying not so fast let's take a look at it because.

Under that analysis the Supreme Court said that that is -- generational let's try it for now and if we see a non discriminatory or let's just say.

Racially neutral practiced.

Where you can go ahead and do that in that we have more favorable statistics.

Then you don't mean to use race as a factor in this case I predict the Supreme Court will be looking at this and they will realize.

That this school used to tests there was one test that was racially mutual called the top 10%.

Law which states that all of the top 10% of the students in the high schools.

Are admitted we'll guess what the statistics improved in terms of racial composition in the Supreme Court can latch on to that.

To make a huge change in the law for the first time in about a quarter century so it'll be very interesting to see what happens.

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