This morning, the US Supreme Court issued its opinion in Fisher v. UT. In a 7-1 decision, the Fifth Circuit's judgment was reversed and remanded. The Fifth Circuit had affirmed the district court's summary judgment against the student challenging UT's admission policies.
The Court held that the Fifth Circuit did not properly apply the strict scrutiny standard. In looking at whether the University's approach was "narrowly tailored," the Fifth Circuit had deferred to the University's "good faith" consideration and rejection of good faith alternatives. The Supreme Court held that such deference is not appropriate in a strict scrutiny review. The court must make an independent examination and satisfy itself that the program is narrowly tailored.
Justice Scalia filed a short concurring opinion noting that he would have overruled Grutter's holding that a compelling interest in diversity can justify racial preferences. But because the petitioner did not ask the Court to overrule Grutter, he fully joins the Court's opinion.
Justice Thomas filed a much longer concurrence stating that he would have overruled Grutter as well.
Justice Ginsburg filed a four-page dissent. Essentially, she would defer to the University's good faith attempt to determine whether race-neutral options could have achieved the same results.
The opinion is available here.
-- Rich Phillips, Thompson & Knight
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