SCOTUS' Upholds Affirmative Action

On Thursday, in a somewhat unexpected move, the Supreme Court upheld the affirmative action policy at the University of Texas at Austin. In a 4-3 vote, the highest court in the land gave a significant victory to affirmative action activists, validating the school's policy of taking race and ethnicity into account in its admission standards. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy authored the majority opinion, and was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Elena Kagan recused herself because she had previously worked on the case as solicitor general, and the seat formerly held by Antonin Scalia has not been filled.

The case, Fisher v. University of Texas, was brought by Abigail Fisher, a white Texas woman who said she was denied entrance to the school because of her race. The Supreme Court first heard it in 2013, but agreed to revisit it.

This story is developing...