Appeals Court Upholds UT Policy
In its tortuous legal path, University of Texas' Affirmative Action policy on July 15, 2014 turned the national spotlight on a ruling issued by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. A three-member panel ruled 2-1 on July 15, 2014 that U.T.'s affirmative action policy was narrow in scope and compliant with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in which the apex court had ruled that country's universities might use race as a factor to bring diversity to the campus. The case, known as Fisher vs. University of Texas at Austin, is likely to go to the full appeals court or the Supreme Court itself. Abigail Fisher filed the lawsuit in 2008 after failing to get admission in Austin campus of the UT system.
Supreme Court Gives Plaintiff a Shot to Argue against UT's Affirmative Action Policy
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 29, 2015 took up the case originally filed by Abigail Fisher against the University of Texas' affirmative action policy that had deprived her a place at the flagship university. The apex court's action to take up the case opens a Pandora's box and creates uncertainty over the affirmative action policy's future. Many civil rights groups saw the Supreme Court action with trepidation and fear. They are nervous that, if the Supreme Court strikes down the current UT policy on racial diversity and inclusion, the minority enrollment will suffer a significant drop.
Brief to Support Race-based Admissions Filed with the U.S. Supreme Court
Urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the UT System's admission policy of "race as a factor", the family of the first Black student in UT Law School filed a brief in the run-up to December 9, 2015, hearing. Heman Sweatt, the first Black student, applied to UT Law School on February 26, 1946. UT President at that time said although Sweatt was qualified, he couldn't be admitted because of his race, a decision praised by the then-Texas Attorney General. Sweatt then approached the U.S. Supreme Court in his pursuit to break the racial barrier. After more than four years, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a verdict in 1950, ruling that the state of Texas had failed to provide equal educational opportunity to Black students. Currently UT admits top-performing high school students for three-fourth of its incoming freshman class. For the remainder, UT uses a holistic measure that includes leadership qualities, family circumstances and other factors such as candidate's race. Abigail Fisher, who was rejected in 2008, filed the lawsuit, charging that the flagship university had denied her admission because of her skin color. A conservative group, the American Center for Law and Justice, filed an opposing brief in the Supreme Court favoring Fisher, saying that the current UT admission policy was an affront to "human dignity".
Fisher VS. UT Case Fallout: Apex Court Verdict Upholds UT Admission Policy
A 4-3 verdict on June 23, 2016 ended an eight-year legal saga that reached all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy opined that University of Texas had not violated constitution when it used, among other factors, applicants' race to admit one-fourth of the 2008 incoming class and rejected the basic precept of the arguments made by the lawyers of Abigail Fisher, a White applicant who said that the UT had violated her right for equal protection under the constitution's 14th Amendment.
In its tortuous legal path, University of Texas' Affirmative Action policy on July 15, 2014 turned the national spotlight on a ruling issued by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. A three-member panel ruled 2-1 on July 15, 2014 that U.T.'s affirmative action policy was narrow in scope and compliant with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in which the apex court had ruled that country's universities might use race as a factor to bring diversity to the campus. The case, known as Fisher vs. University of Texas at Austin, is likely to go to the full appeals court or the Supreme Court itself. Abigail Fisher filed the lawsuit in 2008 after failing to get admission in Austin campus of the UT system.
Supreme Court Gives Plaintiff a Shot to Argue against UT's Affirmative Action Policy
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 29, 2015 took up the case originally filed by Abigail Fisher against the University of Texas' affirmative action policy that had deprived her a place at the flagship university. The apex court's action to take up the case opens a Pandora's box and creates uncertainty over the affirmative action policy's future. Many civil rights groups saw the Supreme Court action with trepidation and fear. They are nervous that, if the Supreme Court strikes down the current UT policy on racial diversity and inclusion, the minority enrollment will suffer a significant drop.
Brief to Support Race-based Admissions Filed with the U.S. Supreme Court
Urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the UT System's admission policy of "race as a factor", the family of the first Black student in UT Law School filed a brief in the run-up to December 9, 2015, hearing. Heman Sweatt, the first Black student, applied to UT Law School on February 26, 1946. UT President at that time said although Sweatt was qualified, he couldn't be admitted because of his race, a decision praised by the then-Texas Attorney General. Sweatt then approached the U.S. Supreme Court in his pursuit to break the racial barrier. After more than four years, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a verdict in 1950, ruling that the state of Texas had failed to provide equal educational opportunity to Black students. Currently UT admits top-performing high school students for three-fourth of its incoming freshman class. For the remainder, UT uses a holistic measure that includes leadership qualities, family circumstances and other factors such as candidate's race. Abigail Fisher, who was rejected in 2008, filed the lawsuit, charging that the flagship university had denied her admission because of her skin color. A conservative group, the American Center for Law and Justice, filed an opposing brief in the Supreme Court favoring Fisher, saying that the current UT admission policy was an affront to "human dignity".
Fisher VS. UT Case Fallout: Apex Court Verdict Upholds UT Admission Policy
A 4-3 verdict on June 23, 2016 ended an eight-year legal saga that reached all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy opined that University of Texas had not violated constitution when it used, among other factors, applicants' race to admit one-fourth of the 2008 incoming class and rejected the basic precept of the arguments made by the lawyers of Abigail Fisher, a White applicant who said that the UT had violated her right for equal protection under the constitution's 14th Amendment.
Minority Contracting Opportunities to Reduce Further
After the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling (refer to the U.S. court system-related blog) banning race-based admission criteria in a case related to Harvard University and University of North Carolina, there has been a persistent and profound effort to undermine some of the federal government's programs designed to help businesses owned by disadvantaged groups, especially minority- and woman-owned businesses. The Small Business Administration's 8(A) Program for disadvantaged groups has helped minority- and woman-owned businesses disproportionately. In Fiscal 2023, the federal government committed $759 billion in contracts, including $76 billion to minority-owned businesses through programs such as the SBA's 8(A). In addition, a similar Department of Transportation program, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, has disbursed more than $34 billion over the past five years.
Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 race-based admission ruling, Conservatives will try to make it more onerous for the minority- and woman-owned businesses to get federal contracts through programs such as SBA's 8(A) or DOT's DBE programs, with requirements for more documents to prove that they are disadvantaged group. Conservatives' dream all the more will come to fruition with Trump administration assuming the helms of affairs in January 2025.
Separately, several state propositions have been recently passed to ban race-based contracting to businesses. The trend began in a prominent manner in 1996 in California when Proposition 209 that targeted the raced-based state contracting had been approved.
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Lawmakers Call for Equitable Funding for 1890 Institutions
Six U.S. House of Representatives members on February 23, 2022 have sent letters to governors, lieutenant governors and legislative body leaders of 18 states, asking them to increase funding for land-grant universities, many of them are HBCUs. In 1862, Congress passed the Morrill Act that had donated the public land to build agricultural and mechanical institutions. In 1890, Second Morrill Act established 19 pre-dominantly Black universities and brought them under the land-grant system. They are also known as 1890 Institutions. Federal government provides funding to them and matches dollar-for-dollar for funding from the respective states. The letter asks the states to increase funding for 1890 Institutions as part of an effort to reduce the funding disparities that exist to the day.
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