The first Fisher case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, was remanded to the Fifth Circuit for failing to apply strict scrutiny in its decision upholding the university’s race-conscious admissions policy. The BBA filed an amicus brief in Fisher I in August 2012. The Fifth Circuit endorsed the University’s use of racial preference in its admissions policy a second time in July 2014, and the Supreme Court agreed this summer to hear the case again. The BBA’s amicus brief in Fisher II argues that state efforts to promote diversity in education serve a compelling governmental interest that is directly relevant to the goals of the legal profession, because under-representation of lawyers of color harms the legal profession and society as a whole. On June 23, 2016, the Supreme Court held in a 4-3 decision in line with our brief, ruling that the university’s race-conscious admissions policy was lawful under the Equal Protection Clause.
