Writing Resources
The Fisher versus the University of Texas case was a Supreme Court case filed in 2008 that sparked national debate regarding policies of affirmative action The plaintiff Abigail Fisher was a white woman who claimed that she had been discriminated against by the University of Texas in its acceptance process because of her race costing her admission to the school According to Fisher the university s race conscious affirmative action policy let in minority students who were less qualified applicants than her denying her what she considered her rightful place in the institution Edward Blum director of the Project on Fair Representation that represented Fisher said that her case presents the court with an opportunity to clarify the boundaries of race preferences in higher education or even reconsider whether race should be permitted at all under the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection 1 arguing that the University's affirmative action policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment The Supreme Court which has been narrowly divided on its stance regarding policies of affirmative action supported controlled use of such policies in the 2003 Grutter v Bollinger case
