Today the U.S. Supreme Court held by a four to three vote that
the University of Texas's use of racial preferences in
undergraduate admissions did not violate the Equal Protection
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, upholding the University's
affirmative action program. The issue of affirmative action in
higher education has now been considered five times by the Supreme
Court and has produced some of the Court's most fractious
decisions, today's being no exception. Fisher v. University
of Texas.
Case Background: A Long and Winding Road
The issue in Fisher was whether the University of
Texas's use of race in selecting its undergraduate class was
constitutional. Abigail Fisher contended she was not admitted to
the University because she is white; she claims that she would have
been admitted if lower standards used for racial minorities were
applied to her.
