Affirmative action opponent Roger Clegg said that he was glad that the panel reached a decision on the merits of Fisher’s case and that they didn’t deny her standing in the lawsuit.
The 2-1 ruling by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Fisher vs. The University of Texas at Austin was just the latest in a series of decisions resulting from orchestrated attacks on the use of race in college admissions. The latest decision also follows a Supreme Court ruling in April that upheld Michigan’s voter-mandated ban on affirmative action.
Leticia Smith-Evans, interim director of the education practice of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the organization will continue to advocate for inclusive school environments at all levels of higher education and that students have access to higher education. The NAACP LDF has represented the Black Student Alliance at the University of Texas and the Black Ex-Students of Texas in the Fisher case.
“We were pleased with the court of appeals decision, which we believe is consistent with prior Supreme Court precedent,” Smith-Evans said. “[That precedent] says that diversity is a compelling interest in higher education.”
The Texas case began in 2008 when Abigail Fisher, a White student from the Houston suburbs, sued the university, claiming she was denied admission because of her race. Fisher failed to gain entrance to the state’s flagship university under the Top 10 Percent Plan, which automatically awarded slots to every student who was ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school.
Fisher also was rejected under the university’s second-tier holistic review process, which may take into account the applicant’s race or ethnicity, socioeconomic background, life experience, desired major and a host of other attributes. The university argued that race was a “factor of a factor” in that process.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in June 2013 that the appeals court failed to apply strict scrutiny to the admissions process and remanded it back to the Fifth Circuit.
