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(Washington, DC) Today, the United States Supreme Court upheld race-based affirmative action in admissions at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Project on Fair Representation, a not-for-profit legal foundation based in Arlington, Virginia, provided counsel to Abigail Fisher who challenged the constitutionality of the UT admissions policy.

Abigail Fisher said, “I am disappointed that the Supreme Court has ruled that students applying to the Univ. of Texas can be treated differently because of their race or ethnicity. I hope that the nation will one day move beyond affirmative action.”

Edward Blum, president of the Project on Fair Representation, said, “Racial classifications and preferences are one of the most polarizing policies in America today. As long as universities like the Univ. of Texas continue to treat applicants differently by race and ethnicity, the social fabric that holds us together as a nation will be weakened. Today’s decision is a sad step backward for the original, colorblind principles to our civil rights laws.”

Blum concluded, “This opinion is at odds with the very principles that were articulated just two years ago in the first Fisher case. What this opinion lacks in legal reasoning, it made up in contradictions.”

The Project on Fair Representation has provided counsel in a number of landmark Supreme Court cases including Northwest Austin Municipal Utility Dist. No. One v. Holder; Abigail Fisher v. Univ. of Texas (Fisher I); Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder; and Evenwel v. Abbott.

Attorneys for Ms. Fisher are Mr. Bert Rein of Wiley Rein in Washington, DC; and Mr. William Consovoy and Mr. Thomas McCarthy of Consovoy McCarthy Park in Arlington, Virginia; and Mr. Paul Terrill of Terrill Law in Austin, Texas.