While the legality of affirmative action is under examination in the Fisher v. University of Texas U.S. Supreme Court case, a landmark ruling on a Michigan law by a federal appeals court this week may provide an indication of what’s to come.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati lifted Michigan’s ban on affirmative action, declaring it unconstitutional. The referendum, known as Proposition 2 and passed by 58 percent of voters in 2006, was declared illegal because it “undermines the Equal Protection Clause’s guarantee that all citizens ought to have equal access to the tools of political change,”Judge R. Guy Cole Jr. wrote in the majority opinion.
Additionally, the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), the group that challenged the ban, says it expects the number of Black and Latino students at universities to at least double once affirmative action is reinstituted.
