Articles

In a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the University of Texas’s use of race in its admissions process does not violate the Constitution. Justice Kennedy wrote the Court’s opinion. The decision is what you’d expect from an opinion upholding the university’s race-based admissions plan — deferential and uncritic ...

The 16th Annual Bay Area APALSA Conference will take place this Saturday at UC Berkeley School of Law. I’ll be discussing affirmative action with fellow panelists Professor Brian Landsberg (McGeorge School of Law), former Assistant Attorney General Bill Lann Lee (Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center), and Kevin Lo (Asian Americans A ...

A few months back, PLF filed this brief in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin urging the Supreme Court to take the case. Our friends at the Center for Equal Opportunity, the American Civil Rights Institute, Project 21, and the National Association of Scholars joined us on the brief. Next week the Court will meet to discuss whether to  ...

Abigail Fisher’s equal protection claim is once again before the Supreme Court. Today PLF — joined by our friends at the Center for Equal Opportunity, the American Civil Rights Institute, Project 21, and the National Association of Scholars — filed this brief in support of her petition for certiorari. We asked the Supreme Cour ...

The case of Abigail Fisher may be on its way to the Supreme Court a second time.  The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied her petition for rehearing en banc. Judge Garza filed a short dissent reiterating the points he made in his panel dissent.  PLF, joined by our friends at the Center for Equal Opportunity, Reason Foundation, … ...

Various news and entertainment outlets have questioned the usefulness of friend-of-the-court briefs (also known as amicus briefs) at the Supreme Court. Both the New York Times and the Colbert Report recently endorsed a law professor’s article questioning the validity of facts in those briefs. Both imply that amicus briefs should not be taken ...

There’s a new book out on Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor.  I have not read the book, but PLF friend Josh Blackman has the scoop on an interesting story about the Fisher decision in the book. According to Blackman (via Nina Totenberg), the case was primed to be decided along they typical 5-4 split (actually 5-3 in this case … ...

Yesterday PLF filed this brief amicus curiae in support of Abigail Fisher.  PLF was joined on the brief by our friends from Center for Equal Opportunity, Project 21, Reason Foundation, and Individual Rights Foundation.  Ms. Fisher continues to fight for her right to be treated equally under the law.  As you recall, last year the Supreme Court ...

Should public universities make admissions decisions based on a student’s race?  Last year, in Fisher v. University of Texas, the Supreme Court held that race could be considered, but only after a university establishes that its use of race is narrowly tailored to achieve “the benefits of a student body diversity that encompasses a bro ...