Schuette v. BAMN
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''Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action'', 572 U.S. 291 (2014), was a
landmark decision Landmark court decisions, in present-day common law legal systems, establish precedents that determine a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially affect the interpretation of existing law. "Leading case" is commonly u ...
of the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
concerning affirmative action and race- and sex-based discrimination in public university admissions. In a 6-2 decision, the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment's
Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
does not prevent states from enacting bans on affirmative action in education. The case arose after Michigan voters approved the
Michigan Civil Rights Initiative The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), or Proposal 2 (Michigan 06–2), was a ballot initiative in the U.S. state of Michigan that passed into Michigan Constitutional law by a 58% to 42% margin on November 7, 2006, according to results o ...
, which amended the state constitution to make affirmative action illegal in public employment and public education. In a plurality opinion joined by two other justices, Justice Anthony Kennedy held that the ban on affirmative action was constitutional. Kennedy wrote that " ere is no authority in the Constitution of the United States or in this Court's precedents for the Judiciary to set aside Michigan laws that commit this policy determination to the voters." Justices
Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...
, Clarence Thomas, and
Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and repl ...
concurred in the result but filed or joined separate opinions. In her dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the voters of Michigan had "changed the basic rules of the political process in that State in a manner that uniquely disadvantaged racial minorities."


Background

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order establishing the concept of affirmative action and mandating that federally financed projects ensure that their hiring and employment practices are free of racial bias. With the enactment of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
, discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin was prohibited. In the first case involving affirmative action in higher education, the Supreme Court ruled in '' Regents of the University of California v. Bakke'' (1978) that the UC Davis medical school admissions program violated the Fourteenth Amendment with the institution of quotas for underrepresented minorities. It did not, however, eliminate race as a factor in university admissions, calling diversity a "compelling interest". The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in ''
Hopwood v. Texas ''Hopwood v. Texas'', 78 F.3d 932 (United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 5th Cir. 1996), was the first successful legal challenge to a university's affirmative action policy in student admissions since ''Regents of the University of ...
'' (5th Cir. 1996) that the University of Texas School of Law could not use race as a factor in admissions. This was the first successful legal challenge to racial preferences since ''Bakke''. Two cases in 2003 involving the University of Michigan found that the university's policy of granting extra points to minorities for undergraduate admissions was unconstitutional (''
Gratz v. Bollinger ''Gratz v. Bollinger'', 539 U.S. 244 (2003), was a United States Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court List of United States Supreme Court cases, case regarding the University of Michigan undergraduate affirmative action University and ...
'') but that a program which gave holistic consideration for being a certain racial minority, though not an automatic boost, in admissions to the law school was constitutional (''
Grutter v. Bollinger ''Grutter v. Bollinger'', 539 U.S. 306 (2003), was a landmark case of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning affirmative action in student admissions. The Court held that a student admissions process that favors "underrepresented minor ...
''). Michigan voters approved Proposal 2 in 2006 which amended the state's constitution to make affirmative action illegal in public employment, public education or public contracting purposes, except for actions mandated by federal law or that are necessary in order for an institution to receive federal funding. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in 2012 that the ban was unconstitutional.


Supreme Court

The Court heard oral argument on October 15, 2013.
John J. Bursch John J. Bursch (born 1972) was the 10th Michigan Solicitor General. He was appointed by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on February 28, 2011. Prior to being Michigan Solicitor General, Bursch served as chair of the Appellate Practice and P ...
, then the Michigan Solicitor General, argued for the petitioner, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. Mark D. Rosenbaum argued for the Cantrell respondents, and Shanta Driver argued for the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action. Justice Elena Kagan took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.


Opinion and concurrences

On April 22, 2014, the Court ruled for the petitioner that the ban on affirmative action in the Michigan Constitution is constitutional. Justice Kennedy, writing th
plurality opinion
wrote that " ere is no authority in the Constitution of the United States or in this Court's precedents for the Judiciary to set aside Michigan laws that commit this policy determination to the voters."
Chief Justice Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in sever ...
and
Justice Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has served ...
joined in the plurality. Chief Justice Roberts also filed a concurring opinion, arguing that the dissent contains a paradox: the governing board banning affirmative action is an exercise of policymaking authority, but others who reach that conclusion (presumed to mean the supporters of Proposal 2) do not take race seriously. He continues that racial preferences may actually do more harm than good, as they reinforce doubt about whether or not minorities belong. Justice Scalia filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, joined by Justice Thomas. He examines what he calls a "frighteningly bizarre question": Whether the
Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
forbids what its text requires. He answers this by quoting his concurrence/dissent in ''Grutter'': that "the Constitution orbidsgovernment discrimination on the basis of race, and state-provided education is no exception." He asserts that the people of Michigan adopted that understanding of the clause as their fundamental law, and that by adopting it, "they did not simultaneously offend it."Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, 572 U.S. ___ (2014)
/ref> Justice Breyer filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, arguing that the case has nothing to do with reordering the political process, nor moving decision-making power from one level to another, but rather that university boards delegated admissions-related authority to unelected faculty and administration. He further argues that the same principle which supports the right of the people or their representatives to adopt affirmative action policies for the sake of inclusion also gives them the right to vote not to do so, as Michigan did.


Dissent

Justice Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...
filed a dissent, joined by Justice Ginsburg, outlining what she called the nation's "long and lamentable record of stymieing the right of racial minorities to participate in the political process." She charges that " majority of the Michigan electorate changed the basic rules of the political process in that State in a manner that uniquely disadvantaged racial minorities." Sotomayor contended that those opposed to affirmative action policies could have either lobbied the boards of the state's universities to change their policies or, through the electoral process, changed the membership of the boards. She invokes the political-process doctrine, recognized in ''
Hunter v. Erickson ''Hunter v. Erickson'', 393 U.S. 385 (1969), was a United States Supreme Court case. The question in the case was "whether the City of Akron, Ohio, has denied black citizenthe equal protection of its laws by amending the city charter to preven ...
'' (1969) and ''Washington v. Seattle School District'' (1982), whereby " en the majority reconfigures the political process in a manner that burdens only a racial minority, that alteration triggers strict judicial scrutiny." Sotomayor had previously credited her own admission to college to affirmative action, stating "I am the perfect affirmative action baby", and that without affirmative action "it would have been highly questionable if I would have been accepted."


References


External links

* {{US14thAmendment, equalprotection 2014 in United States case law United States affirmative action case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court United States equal protection case law University and college admissions Legal history of Michigan United States racial discrimination case law