(Falls Church, VA) The Center for Equal Opportunity praised the Supreme Court’s decision today in Fisher v. University of Texas, overturning the court appeals ruling that had upheld the University of Texas’s use of racial preferences in university admissions. CEO had joined Pacific Legal Foundation in a series of amicus briefs in this litigation — first in the U.S. Court of Appeals, then urging the Supreme Court to take the case, and then urging the Court to end racial preferences. Before that, it had also filed an administrative complaint against the University’s policy.
“The court of appeals was wrong to uphold the discriminatory policy by the University of Texas,” said CEO founder and chairman Linda Chavez. “The Supreme Court was right to tell it to take a harder look. In a country that is more and more multiracial and multiethnic, our laws and institutions simply cannot sort Americans by skin color and what country their ancestors came from. Sooner or later, this has to come to an end.”
“CEO president and general counsel Roger Clegg agreed: “Our Constitution and laws and ideals all make clear that in this nation we are all one race: American.” He added, “We wish the Supreme Court itself had concluded that all racial preferences in university admissions are illegal, but it certainly has left the door open to that possibility in this case and future cases, and we will continue to work toward that end.”
The Center for Equal Opportunity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational organization that studies issues relating to race and ethnicity nationwide.
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