Big Deal and Great News: SCOTUS Upholds Affirmative Action at U of Texas

[cali]

This was one of the most anticipated decisions.

Supreme Court Upholds Affirmative Action in College Admissions


The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the affirmative action program at the University of Texas at Austin, ending a protracted legal battle.

It was not immediately clear how far-reaching the ruling will be because of the specifics of the Texas program at issue. However, the court offered a grudging agreement that the program is needed.

"The Court's affirmance of the University's admissions policy today does not necessarily mean the University may rely on that same policy without refinement," the court wrote in its majority opinion."It is the University's ongoing obligation to engage in constant deliberation and continued reflection regarding its admissions policies."

A Texas law guarantees admission to the university for students in roughly the top ten percent of the graduating class of any Texas high school. To fill the remaining slots, about one fourth of each entering class, the school considers several other factors, including an applicant's race.

That last step was the program under court challenge, upheld by the justices Thursday.

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read:http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/supreme-court-upholds-affirmative-action-college-admissions-n582981

[rurallib]

1. Kagan recused herself, Kennedy wrote the majority opinion

so probably would have passed even with Scalia.

And here is Thomas:
Justice Clarence Thomas, in joining the dissent, said the decision "is irreconcilable with strict scrutiny, rests on pernicious assumptions about race, and departs from many of our precedents."

Pulling up the ladder for future generations in the fine Republican tradition.