The California Association of Scholars and the Connecticut Association of Scholars have submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas. The brief presents the question of whether Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), can be reconciled with this Court’s prior decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and, if not, whether Grutter should be overruled.
Grutter is the Supreme Court case that established "diversity" as a compelling interest in higher education - compelling enough to justify racial preferences in college admissions. Many are predicting that Fisher will revisit the Grutter decision and reconsider whether giving special preference to minorities really improves the quality of higher education and is congruent with equal treatment of individuals.
NAS has filed our own friend-of-the-court brief, which argues that colleges and universities should prioritize race-neutral alternatives over racial classifications. We urge the Court to consider these and the many other arguments (including one that shows how racial preferences put Asian Americans at a disadvantage) being made for true equal opportunity in college admissions.
