Monday, October 8, 2012

Preparing for the Fisher v. University of Texas SCOTUS Oral Arguments


As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares for oral arguments this week in the Fisher v. University of Texas case, many are starting to get curious: why exactly all the hype? Since the 2003 SCOTUS decision, Grutter v. Bollinger, the University of Texas has been using race as a factor in the admissions process. The problem with this, the petitioner argues, is that diversity is already considered and adjusted for via the state’s unique Top 10 Percent Law, and therefore the race-conscious admissions violate her right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. If Grutter is overturned by the Fisher case, then affirmative action in higher education will be greatly affected.

Because of this potential impact, I thought I would take this time to mention a few resources to get up to speed as the chatter increases in anticipation for the oral arguments set for Wednesday, October 10, 2012:

The first is a great new library guide that I had the pleasure of contributing to during a recent internship at the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin. This guide includes the key docket entries from each stage of the case, beginning with the Western District of Texas through the U.S. Supreme Court. You will also find links and PDFs of selected scholarly publications and news articles discussing both background and in depth elements of the case. There are also links to the text of this Top 10 Percent Law.

As always, the SCOTUSblog is a great website to consult on upcoming cases. The blog has some great coverage and also includes links to important court documents.

The Gallagher Law Library also maintains a couple of books that may be of interest:
I hope you enjoy the insight!


No comments: