By Chuck Lindell Austin | American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman denied a request by Students for Fair Admissions for an injunction prohibiting the University of Texas from learning the race or ethnicity of college applicants. The group argued that the information fuels a discriminatory policy that denied several unnamed white members of the organization the opportunity to compete for admission on an equal footing with others.
A federal judge in Austin has dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of white students who claimed the University of Texas did not give them a fair chance to apply for admission because of their race.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman said the lawsuit was barred because it involved the same issues, and was pushed by the same people, as a previous challenge to UT’s admissions policies that was decided in the university’s favor by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016.
In granting summary judgment to UT, Pitman dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled in the future.
“It is finally ordered that this action is closed,” Pitman wrote in Monday’s ruling.
Edward Blum, founder of Students for Fair Admissions, which pursued the lawsuit, said Pitman’s ruling will be appealed.
“We look forward to asking the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to review and reverse the dismissal of this important civil rights case,” Blum said Tuesday.
Students for Fair Admissions sought an injunction prohibiting UT from learning the race or ethnicity of any college applicant, arguing that the information fueled a discriminatory policy that denied several unnamed white members of the organization the opportunity to compete for admission on an equal footing with others.
But UT argued that the Supreme Court had already upheld the school’s admissions policy, which takes race into consideration as a minor factor when deciding who should fill about 25% of the freshman class. The remaining 75% of incoming students is filled by the top 7% or 8% of students in high school rankings.
Pitman agreed, ruling that minor policy changes that Students for Fair Admissions complained about did not create new legal conditions “that would allow for relitigation of these claims.”
The same parties also were involved in the Supreme Court case and the current lawsuit, providing another factor in favor of dismissal, Pitman noted.
Blum, the “central figure” behind both lawsuits, recruited Abigail Fischer to sue UT after the white woman was denied admission in 2008, Pitman said.
While that case was working its way to the Supreme Court, Blum in 2014 created Students for Fair Admissions, which seeks to end race from being considered in any university admissions process. The new organization had a three-member board of directors — Blum, Fischer and her father, Richard Fischer — and Blum continued his role of identifying plaintiffs, communicating with lawyers and raising money for the latest lawsuit, Pitman said.
Organizations including the Texas NAACP and the Black Student Alliance, aided by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, had joined the legal challenge in support of UT’s admissions policies.
David Hinojosa with the Lawyers’ Committee praised Pitman’s ruling.
“For years, the race-conscious admissions policy at the University of Texas at Austin has helped to advance racial diversity and make certain that underrepresented students of color are not overlooked when applying for admission,” Hinojosa said.
“This ruling is a key victory not just for the policy, but also for advancing diversity in higher education in Texas and affirmative action overall,” he added.
