The United States Supreme Court has opted not to issue a decision about how affirmative action is used in determining college admissions. Instead, the court on Monday ordered a lower court to re-evaluate a case involving a prospective University of Texas student who claims she was denied entry due to her race.
The vote was 7-1. In the decision, the Supreme Court vacated the Fifth Circuit Court’s decision to dismiss the Texas case in 2011. The lower court upheld a previous ruling that affirmative action in admissions was constitutional.
The court called for strict scrutiny in the review of both this and future cases to determine if no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity.
Germain Awad, a professor at UT who specializes in affirmative action, said the secondary decision was not so much a mandate but a suggestion that schools re-evaluate how much race plays a factor in admission.
“Now probably in Texas and across the nation schools will have to face closer scrutiny of how they actually implement affirmative action policies on a day-to-day basis,” Awad said.
The case centers on Abigail Fisher, a white UT hopeful who in 2008 was denied admission. She claims students of other race were given priority.
