Bollinger V. Gratz Case Study

CNN reported on August 1, 2014 that 43-year-old Eric Garner died on July 17 after being confronted by police on Staten Island for allegedly selling cigarettes illegally. As police officers approached Garner he raised both hands in the air and told the officers not to touch him. Moments later, a video recording shows an officer grabbing the 350-pound man from behind in a choke hold and wrestled him to the ground, rolling him onto his stomach.

In 1945, the High Court of Australia heard the case of Gratwick v Johnson and ultimately decided to dismiss the appeal in a unanimous decision by the Judges. While different reasoning was employed, all five judges drew the conclusion that the appeal should be dismissed as the statute the defendant was charged under was inconsistent with s.92 of the Australian Constitution.

In this case, the “black” law school already existed but was underfunded and didn’t have same academic caliber as the white school. With the help of Thurgood Marshall, Sweat sued to be admitted to the University’s white law school. They argued that the principle of “equality” was violated because the black law school was “separate” but “not equal.” Thus, like Murry’s case, the court ruled to admit Sweat to the University’s white law school. This case was known as Sweat v. Painter (1950) (United States Courts, n.d.).

Throughout many of the affirmative action legal cases, one of the main arguments from proponents is that it is necessary in order to right the wrongs of past racial discrimination. Some say that affirmative action is justified because even though white applicants may be more qualified, this is only because they did not face the same hardships as their minority counterparts (Rachels, Ethics, 1973).  Many argue if we do not integrate disadvantaged minorities into mainstream social institutions, they will continue to suffer the discrimination that has plagued our country for centuries and that this is detrimental to not only the minorities but also society as a whole (Anderson, 2002, 1270–71). However, the debate has recently shifted to the benefits of diversity in the classroom which the Supreme Court has affirmed as being a positive thing

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: In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court ruled that the medical

The fourteenth amendment states in the equal protection clause that states may not discriminate against any citizen for any reason, and must allow the same privileges, rights, and conservation. Hogan was on a mission to gain relief as well as compensation for the damages caused. The case was argued on March 22, 1982. The argument from Joe Hogan was proposed by advocate, Wilbur Colom. The petitioner’s side was presented by Hunter M. Gholson, in representation for Mississippi University for Women. The institution based their argument around the fact that was stated into the school’s policy that it was a school for women only and that by having this school, it balanced the discrimination of women. This argument was not very powerful in the swaying of the court. It was not a struggle for a women to be successful and have many job opportunities when it came to work. Men struggled more than women in this particular field. The court’s first chose to continued to endorse the university’s entrance arrangement. The court of appeals reversed and the final decision fell in Joe Hogan’s favor, winning with a five to four decision. The judges that favored Hogan were judges Brennan, White, Marshall, Stevens, and O’Connor. The university was after the fact mandated to change their policy, allowing males to be able to

In this landmark case Allan Bakke, a white applicant to the University of California, Davis Medical School, sued claiming his denial of admission on racial grounds was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The standing rule at the time was that race may be a factor in determining admission to educational institutions; however it cannot be the sole determining factor.

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

Barbara Grutter (plaintiff) which is a resident of Michigan who was denied admissions into the University of Michigan Law School. Lee Bollinger (defendant) was president of the University of Michigan. Grutter filed this suit because the University had discriminated against the basis of race. Supreme Court ruled that the use of affirmative action in school admissions is constitutional if it treats race as some factor. Is affirmative action still necessary for guaranteeing equal access to educational opportunities at elite universities and graduate schools? Should admissions decisions be based solely on academic criteria and merit?

District Court judge, Sam Sparks, who upheld the university’s use of race when deciding admissions under the precedent of Grutter v. Bollinger because the university’s use of race was found to be narrowly tailored. When the decision was challenged, the case was heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the district court’s ruling was affirmed. When Fisher challenged the decision, the case was heard by the Robert’s U.S. Supreme Court which decided that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had erred by not applying the test of strict scrutiny to the University of Texas at Austin’s decision to base some of their admissions on race, and so the case went back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. When the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard the case again, they decided that the university’s admission policy based somewhat on race was narrowly tailored to the objective of promoting educational diversity. Currently, the case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin is pending a decision by the U.S. Supreme

The history of America is as much the history of freedom and triumph as it is the history of the segregation and oppression of African Americans. The acquisition of Civil Rights was not just contained in the movement of the 1960’s, but was a road that had spanned the entirety of the era after the end of Southern Reconstruction. If President Hayes had not agreed to remove Federal soldiers from the South, the Civil Rights movement would not have happened during the 1960’s, but would have happened much earlier. During the time of reconstruction, the rights of the newly freed African Americans was constantly in jeopardy, and it was an ongoing struggle for the fair treatment that was promised by the Constitution. When the North lost southern influence,

The Supreme Court came to a 7-1 ruling favoring the University of Texas. The Supreme Court emphasized the learning benefits from a diverse student body. This ruling was also a win for people that are against racial preference. The ruling said, “Courts must consider whether such preferences are narrowly tailored to achieving their educational goals

The U.S. Supreme Court encountered various difficulties in trying to overthrow Jim Crow. After the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decision, it makes things difficult for the court to overturn its “separate, but equal” ruling. Heading into the 20th Century, Black civil rights in America, particularly in the South were met with swift opposition. It was in large part due to the Supreme Court ruling that gave those states the power to enforce discriminatory legislation. In Robert J. Cottrol book, “Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution”, he described the Jim Crow era as it dealt with public education. The problem with the Supreme Court was the inconsistency in their decisions following the 1896 ruling. In the first

After carefully reviewing the oral argument and brief of case 14-191, Abigail Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, I was impressed how well the plaintiff attorney argued her defense during the trail. The litigations were as stated, in 2008, the UT Austin enrollment department wrongfully denied admission based upon the school considered race discrimination in its admission process because Fisher was a white female student, and because of her inadequate academic achievements. Fisher lawyer focus adequately on the highlight of the case by persuading the court that she would have gotten accepted into the university if she wasn’t stereotyped on such matters: race, top 10 percent student, grades, test scores which she refer to as personal achievement index. UT at Austin attorneys really didn’t have much leading factories to propose a concrete objective. In the argument Fisher attorney used the Justice Powell‘s example on Bakke system to support is statement. Many students attended the university felt unimportant and spoke out loudly about being isolated. During the cross-examination the university argued that African Americans, Hispanic, and Asian students were denied entry for not meeting college admission requirements, not because of race.

The Supreme Court has not offered an opinion on affirmative action in higher education since its 1978 ruling in Regents of the Univ. Of California v. Bakke. In that determination, the Supreme Courts Justice Powell argued that a university could take race into account as one among a number of factors in student admissions for the purposed of achieving student body diversity. Since the time of this ruling, affirmative action programs with regard to student admissions, financial assistance, and even faculty employment have been founded mainly on achieving diversity.