Fisher v. UT: 'A significant departure from every racial affirmative action case Justice Kennedy has decided'

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy cast the deciding vote and authored the opinion in the Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case decided this morning.

“This is momentous. Justice Kennedy has finally found a racial affirmative action policy that he was willing to endorse,” said Professor Kimberly West-Faulcon, the James P. Bradley Chair in Constitutional Law at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles who filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the Fisher v. University of Texas case (often called Fisher II because it is the second time plaintiff Abigail Fisher’s case has gone to the Supreme Court).

“This is a significant departure from every racial affirmative action case Justice Kennedy has decided to date. Kennedy has not only sided with the University of Texas, he has said ‘considerable deference’ is owed to the state university. This is a major ruling for universities because this is the first time a Kennedy opinion has used language about ‘equal treatment and dignity’ in the context of race. In the era of Black Lives Matter, Justice Kennedy is showing a willingness to protect racial rights in a manner he has previously reserved for LGBT rights.”

More: Read the amicus brief Professor West-Faulcon filed in support of the University of Texas in November 2015.