Chinanews, February 26. According to a report by the US Chinese website, a conservative-backed group "Fair Admission of Students" filed a lawsuit in the US Supreme Court on Thursday (25th) to challenge the practice of colleges and universities in considering racial factors in admissions.
The organization urged justices to hear its appeals, after it sued Harvard University’s admissions policy to discriminate against Asian American students, and lost the lawsuit in a lower court for violating the law.
Once the Supreme Court, which has a conservative 6 to 3 majority, agrees to take over the case, it will be possible to make a landmark judgment on whether colleges and universities can promote campus diversity by considering the racial makeup of the student population.
In the petition, the "Fair Admission of Students" organization requested the Supreme Court to overturn the judgment in Grutter v. Bollinger.
The case was a 2003 ruling when the Supreme Court upheld the University Admissions Committee’s right to consider applying for the race of students in order to benefit minorities and enhance diversity.
"The core of the Grutter case is that universities can use ethnic factors in enrollment to achieve the purpose of student population diversity. This is obviously wrong." The petition wrote.
The plaintiff stated that, given that Harvard University has played an important role in past rulings, their lawsuit against its policies provides an "ideal tool" for the Supreme Court to reassess its position on the affirmative movement.
Previously, the lower federal court ruled in support of Harvard University's admissions policy.
In 2019, a federal judge in Boston issued a verdict after a three-week trial and found that Harvard University’s admissions practices did not violate the law and discriminate against Asian Americans.
Alison Blaus, a federal district court judge appointed by Obama, wrote in the ruling that although Harvard’s policy is “not perfect,” it has withstood the strictest constitutional review.
In November 2020, a panel of judges from the Federal Court of Appeals for the First Circuit supported the ruling, which prompted the plaintiff’s student organization to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In order for the Supreme Court to take over a case, it must obtain the consent of four or more justices.
The Trump Administration’s Department of Justice publicly supported Asian students in this case and filed a similar lawsuit against Yale University, claiming that the prestigious university discriminated against white and Asian applicants in its strict admissions procedures.
Like Harvard, Yale also denies that its policies are discriminatory, saying that its admissions process follows federal laws and Supreme Court rulings, which generally support affirmative action.
The Justice Department does not have the power to force Yale to change its policies, so it needs litigation to enforce its rulings.