SUPREME COURT PLAZA, Washington, DC – On news this morning that the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the affirmative action case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, Constitutional Accountability Center released the following statement:

CAC Civil Rights Director David Gans, who was in the Court for today’s decision announcement, said, “The court backed away from the edge of the cliff today. The court surprised most Court watchers by issuing an extremely narrow decision. The Justices did not decide the constitutionality of the University’s use of race in admissions, the big question at the heart of this case.”

CAC Vice President Judith E. Schaeffer, also in the Court today, added, “While many expected the Court’s conservatives to try and rewrite decades of precedent upholding the use of race in university admissions, a wide majority of the court reaffirmed the prior pecedents that permit the University to use race in a modest way to foster equality in education.”

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Resources:

CAC’s “friend of the court” brief in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin on behalf of luminaries in the study of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment: http://theusconstitution.org/cases/briefs/fisher-v-university-texas/amicus-brief-fisher-v-university-texas

“Affirmative action is consistent with original meaning,” David Gans and Adam Winkler, SCOTUSblog, September 5, 2012: http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/09/online-fisher-symposium-affirmative-action-is-consistent-with-original-meaning/ 

“Race-Conscious Measures and the U.S. Constitution: CAC’s Brief in Fisher Explains Difference Between a No Trespassing Sign and a Welcome Mat,” News Release, August 13, 2012: http://theusconstitution.org/media/releases/race-conscious-measures-and-us-constitution-cacs-brief-fisher-explains-difference

“Brown v. Brown: Will the Supreme Court Interpret the Equal Protection Clause to Invalidate Measures Designed to Promote Equal Opportunity and Redress Our Nation’s Long History of Racial Discrimination?” The Constitution at a Crossroads Series,  May 2012: http://theusconstitution.org/think-tank/crossroads/brown-v-brown-will-supreme-court-interpret-equal-protection-clause-invalidate

“Perfecting the Declaration: The Text and History of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” CAC Text and History Narrative, June 2011: http://theusconstitution.org/think-tank/narrative/perfecting-declaration-text-and-history-equal-protection-clause-fourteenth

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history.

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