In 1997, a legislation was passed in Texas, requiring all high school seniors who ranked in the top 10% of their classes to be admitted to the school. Fast forwarding to 2008, both Plaintiffs Abigail Noel Fisher and Rachel Multer Michalewicz applied to the University of Texas at Austin, but where denied. They believed that they were denied due to the fact that they were white.
In 2009, United States District Court judge Sam Sparks upheld the University's policy, finding that it meets the standards laid out in Grutter v. Bollinger.[8] That decision was affirmed by a Fifth Circuit panel composed of judges Patrick Higginbotham, Carolyn Dineen King and Emilio M. Garza. In his ruling, Higginbotham wrote that the "ever-increasing number of minorities gaining admission under this 'Top Ten
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She had a grade point average of 3.59 and was in the top 12% of her class. She scored a 1180 on her SAT, which was above the 25th percentile of the incoming applicants at University of Texas-Austin, which was 1120. Fisher participated in the math and orchestra competitions, as well as volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. In 2011, her partner, Michalewicz, stopped pursuing the case and left Fisher by herself. In the court case Grutter v. Bollinger, it was ruled that that race had an appropriate but limited role in the admissions policies of public universities. Both Fisher and Michalewicz believed that the school was selecting more people that where of color over equally as eligible whites due to this court case. Fisher decided to bring this
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, No.14-981. Transcript of Gregory G. Garre Esq’s oral argument on behalf of the Respondent. Pg.51, lines 10-13, & Pg.55, lines 7-9: Back in 2002, from a class of 8,000, there were only 272 black students enrolled; 90% of the time, it is typical for a normal size classroom of to have zero to one African American student. Id. General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. agrees that in the event of two applicants’ criteria are exact alike, their race factors does “not necessary” matter in the admission office’s decision making. “The increasingly fierce competition for the decreasing number of seats available for Texas students outside the top 10% rule results in minority students being under-represented, and
In 1950, in the Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents cases, the Court struck down segregation of African American students in law and graduate schools. The Justice Department, in its brief to the Court, said it believed Plessy was unconstitutional and should be overturned. NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawyers, led by Thurgood Marshall, began to devise a strategy that would force the Court to re-examine the constitutionality of the separate-but-equal doctrine (2015 The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights/The Leadership Conference Education Fund). Thomas Madison had every right to go that college, he met every schoo. 1978:
The Supreme Court made a mistake when they decided with the University of Texas; no college should take in race as a factor when selecting applications of students. In 2007, two female high school students applied to the University of Texas; one of the girls being Miss Abigail N. Fisher. Abigail was a caucasian, in the top 12% of her school at Stephen Austin High School, but she was denied by the University of Texas along with a friend of her’s. However,
On August 8, 2009, Sonia Maria Sotomayor became the first justice of Hispanic descent to be seated on the United States Supreme Court. Her upbringing in a Puerto Rican household in the Bronx, significantly shaped her decision making first on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (1991-1997) and later, on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1997 - 2009). Today, Sotomayor continually advocates for the basic rights of Americans; this is demonstrated in two of her recent opinions: (1) her 58 page dissent of the Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014) decision, in which the Court decided, 6-2, that states could prohibit the use of affirmative action at public universities; and (2) and her opinion on the Brumfield v. Cain (2015) which
In the end the Supreme Court supported the lawfulness of affirmative action, but restricted its practice. The court’s ruling
Alan took the school to court saying that he should be able to take a spot, and that it was wrong to reject someone with good grades just because of reserving spots for minorities. Bakke fought with the school to get a spot, the court then took the action: "The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of his equal protection claim declaring that the admissions program was unlawful and enjoined the School from considering the race of an applicant. The judgment was affirmed in part and reversed in part" (Casebriefs). His case was later approved, and he received a spot in the
After the U.S. Supreme Court accepted the case it received a lot of public attention causing a national debate. The school reserved
In Regents of University of California v. Bakke (1978), the Supreme Court ruled that a university 's use of racial "quotas" in its admissions process was unconstitutional, but a school 's use of "affirmative action" to accept more minority applicants was constitutional in some circumstances. " The college was asked to at least consider blacks in the admittance of college and they were asked to not use quotas in the admission
In the case people were getting desegregated because of their race such as white or black. The Courts did not find it right at all that african americans had to get treated that way and not treat others the same way. For almost 17 years southern border has been segregation ⅔ of them are african americans. Blacks were getting done wrong because of their color or should I say race. They didn't deserve to be done that
This case was not just an event in history, but a strong point that supported and still supports equality to this day. People can use this case to help support their reasoning for what they believe in and why certain actions should
Without this case, we would not be where we are today. It shaped the United States completely as a whole. It was the first time something regarding race was put a lot
The continued neoliberalism thinking is consistent with this decision. Although the overall goal was to desegregate schools that enrolled mostly white students, the Fordice decision also affected higher education and even led to the desegregation of primarily black colleges. This litigation is still
At least four Supreme Court justices believe that affirmative action is unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts has said that “the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race”. This viewpoint offers no differentiation between “race consciousness” and “racism”, but is a quite common opinion. This sort of viewpoint is what may drive America towards class-based rather than race-based affirmative action. Because of the disparities in income and wealth, minorities are as likely as whites to benefit under a class-based policy.
Supreme Court Decisions Setting Precedent Discrimination may not seen as big a problem today, but people had to fight for that problem, and court cases set precedents for today. The case of Plessy versus Ferguson and Brown versus Board of Education helped change the way we view discrimination today. The case of Plessy versus Ferguson decided that segregation was legal as long as everything was equal. But on the other hand, Brown versus Board of Education included separate but equal schools made African-American children feel inferior to the white children. 1896, Supreme Court heard the Plessy versus Ferguson case.
Why We Shouldn’t Use Racial Quotas in College Admissions In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled in the Regents of University of California vs. Bakke case, that the use of racial preferences in college admissions violates the Equal Protections Clause of the fourteenth amendment. The Equal Protections Clause says that no state shall deny a person equal protection within jurisdiction. Since then, a great deal of Affirmative Action cases against colleges have transpired. There is much dispute among colleges and potential students on the issue.