Fisher v. University of Texas (on behalf of the Civil Rights Clinic)

19A. The Program May Not Set Aside Seatsfor Minority Applicants.“To be narrowly tailored, a race-conscious admissionsprogram cannot ‘insulat[e] each category <strong>of</strong>applicants with certain desired qualifications fromcompetition with all other applicants.’” Grutter, 539U.S. at 334 (quoting Bakke, 438 U.S. at 315 (opinion<strong>of</strong> Powell, J.)). All seats must be open to all students;a university may not set aside a certain number <strong>of</strong>seats for students <strong>of</strong> a particular race or ethnicity.See Grutter, 539 U.S. at 334 (“To be narrowlytailored, a race-conscious admissions program cannotuse a quota system”). That said, a university mayaspire to create an incoming class with a group<strong>of</strong> students sufficiently large – a critical mass – toadequately represent a diverse viewpoint. Grutter,539 U.S. at 335-36; see Bakke, 438 U.S. at 323 (opinion<strong>of</strong> Powell, J.) (“[Ten] or [Twenty] black studentscould not begin to bring to their classmates and toeach other the variety <strong>of</strong> points <strong>of</strong> view, backgroundsand experiences <strong>of</strong> blacks in the United States.”). Aslong as it does not require that a class include aparticular number <strong>of</strong> minority students, the occasionalconsultation <strong>of</strong> data regarding the makeup <strong>of</strong>students accepted will not render the programunconstitutional. Grutter, 539 U.S. at 336 (quotingBakke, 438 U.S. at 323 (opinion <strong>of</strong> Powell, J.)) (“‘Someattention to numbers,’ without more, does nottransform a flexible admissions system into a rigidquota.”).B. The Program Must Consider EachApplication on an Individual Basis.The institution must consider each application onan individual basis. Grutter, 539 U.S. at 334; id. at392-93 (opinion <strong>of</strong> Kennedy, J., dissenting) (“There is