Resources Related to Grutter v. Bollinger & Gratz v. Bollinger
Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 and Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 , were a linked pair ofcases in which the United States Supreme Court upheld the affirmative action admissions policies of the University of Michigan Law School and the University's undergraduate division respectively
Taken together, the Court’s opinions in the Grutter and Gratz cases reinforce the importance of flexible and holistic admissions policies that employ a limited use of race. The Court’s opinion in the law school case, Grutter v. Bollinger, confirms that admissions programs which consider race as one of many factors in the context of an individualized consideration of all applicants can pass constitutional muster. The Court’s decision to strike down the undergraduate admissions policy in Gratz as unconstitutional also makes clear that policies which automatically and inflexibly assign benefits on the basis of race, such as the University’s undergraduate point system that allocated a fixed number of points for underrepresented minority group members, are constitutionally suspect. Universities that employ systems which lack sufficient individualized review will need to re-examine their current admissions policies to determine whether their policies require adjustment or revision in light of the Court's decision in Gratz. Institutions that have adopted more restrictive policies than the Court's decisions allow may wish to re-examine their policies to ensure that they are not “overcorrecting” out of a misplaced fear of being held legally liable.
Legal and Legislative Backdrop
- Reaffirming Diversity: A Legal Analysis of the University of Michigan Affirmative Action Cases
- Statement Analyzing the Implications of Supreme Court's Decisions for Higher Education
Publications
