Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is taking the state’s ban on affirmative action to the U.S. Supreme Court. Schuette filed paperwork today asking the nation’s highest court to take the case.
Last month, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said Michigan’s ban violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. The state’s voters approved an amendment to the state constitution banning universities from considering the race of applicants back in 2006.
“If you think about it, in this case, the 6th Circuit basically said when Michigan voters chose to ban discrimination, that that actually was discriminatory. And it doesn’t make any sense, and we expect the Supreme Court to reverse it,” says Joy Yearout, a spokesperson for state Attorney General Bill Schuette.
She says she expects the Supreme Court to overturn the decision.
“There are at least seven other states that have similar provisions on the books, and both state and federal courts have found those to be constitutional,” she says.
The Supreme Court can choose to take the case or let the lower court’s decision stand.
Almost a decade ago, the Supreme Court upheld an affirmative action system used by the University of Michigan’s graduate program. But it threw out one used for undergraduate admissions, which awarded extra points for some minority applicants.