Cases

Abby Fisher sued to prevent the University of Texas from employing racially discriminatory policies and procedures in administering the undergraduate admissions. The admissions policies discriminated against her on the basis of her race in violation of her right to equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and federal civil rights statutes.

Read the US Supreme Court opinion (Fisher I)

On February 11, 2014, the Project on Fair Representation filed a certiorari petition to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Abigail Fisher in Fisher v. Univ. of Texas. (Fisher II)

After a new round of briefing and arguments in 2013 and 2014, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals which has previously ruled against Abby Fisher again took up the case and concluded that UT’s racial admissions policies also met the strict scrutiny articulated by the Supreme Court in Fisher I, though this time with an energetic dissent from Judge Emilio Garza,

The question presented to the Supreme Court is, “Whether the Fifth Circuit’s re-endorsement of the University of Texas at Austin’s use of racial preferences in undergraduate admissions decisions can be sustained under this Court’s decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, including Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin.” (Fisher I)

Read the writ of certiorari (Fisher II)

Read the Project on Fair Representation’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision on June 23, 2016.