Supreme Court Preparing to Tackle Fisher Case, Campus Diversity Again

Abigail Fisher’s contentious case against the University of Texas Austin’s holistic undergraduate admissions policy will be reviewed once again by the Supreme Court next Wednesday. The case questions the constitutionality of holistic admissions practices, which consider race, among other factors, in order to create a diverse and racially representative student body.

Fisher sued UT Austin for race discrimination in 2008 after she was rejected for admission at the state flagship university. At the time, she said, “There were people in my class with lower grades who weren’t in all the activities I was in, who were being accepted into UT, and the only other difference between us was the color of our skin.”

Her suit has since had a tumultuous, albeit dogged, career. It was rejected by a federal district court in 2009 and has bounced between the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court twice so far.

Students in Texas are granted automatic admission to UT Austin if they score in the top 10 percent of their high school class, under a policy known as the Top Ten Percent Plan. UT Austin caps the number of students admitted under the Top Ten plan at 75 percent.