Briefs on the Pending Harvard/U of North Carolina Cases Monday, May 16, 2022
Inside Higher Ed today carries a story about the Harvard/U of North Carolina case on affirmative action in college admissions that is now before the US Supreme Court. The thrust of the article is that conservative organizations and political figures have sent briefs to the Court opposing affirmative action that may be influential, given the current tilt of the Court. Of course, the court is now embroiled in controversy over the leaked draft decision on abortion. Whether the Court will want to upset two longstanding positions at the same time (abortion rights and affirmative action), is an interesting question.* How much controversy is the Court willing to provoke? Also an interesting question is the degree to which California's Prop 209 - the antiaffirmative action measure adopted by voters in the mid-1990s - will shield UC from judicial scrutiny if the court does bar affirmative action. (The UC argument would be that since it complies with 209, there is nothing in its admissions practices that would run afoul of a hypothetical Supreme Court ban.) Below is an excerpt from the Inside Higher Ed piece: Making Their Arguments Against Affirmative Action
Thirty-four briefs argue that Harvard and UNC, and other colleges that base their admissions plans on the Grutter decision, should be forced to change. By Scott Jaschik, May 16, 2022
Thirty-four briefs were filed, most of them last week, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse its past support for affirmative action in college admissions. The briefs could be cited in the Supreme Court’s decision, expected next year, on the admissions systems at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. No college or UCLA Faculty Association Blog: 2nd Quarter 2022
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