ABIGAIL NOEL FISHER, Petitioner, v. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, et al., Respondents.
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE OF PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY, AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE, PROJECT 21, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOLARS, INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION, AND REASON FOUNDATION IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER
There is no evidence that universities have weighed the undeniable costs of racial preferences against the benefits that purportedly result from classifying individuals on the basis of race. And there is no evidence that universities have given serious thought to whether these benefits can be achieved though race-neutral means. This demonstrates that universities nationwide continue to flout the Court’s limits on the use of race in admissions decisions.
Our nation is increasingly multiethnic and multiracial, and individual Americans are more and more likely to be multi-ethnic and multiracial. In such a nation, it is dangerous to allow divisive racial and ethnic discrimination by public institutions to become wider and more entrenched. Neither Grutter nor Fisher sanctioned the unquestioning use of race by our nation’s public universities. Nevertheless, they continue to use racial preferences unheeded by this Court’s decisions. For the foregoing reasons, Amici respectfully request the Court reverse the decision below.