A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming UT uses unlawful admissions policies, according to the July 15 order.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ruled the University’s revised policies are lawful under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Edward Blum’s legal advocacy group, Students for Fair Admissions, filed the lawsuit in 2020. The group also challenged the University of North Carolina and Harvard University for race-conscious admissions.
According to the lawsuit, the advocacy group claimed at least two of its members were “denied the opportunity to compete for admission to UT-Austin on equal footing with other applicants on the basis of race or ethnicity because of UT-Austin’s discriminatory admissions policies.” A lower court dismissed the case in 2021, but the advocacy group appealed.
The group’s lawsuit against the University of North Carolina and Harvard resulted in the United States Supreme Court striking down affirmative action on U.S. campuses in 2023. UT revised its admission policies to comply with the ruling beginning in fall 2023, but Students for Fair Admissions claimed the policies still considered race.
According to the lawsuit, UT’s admission policy changes included removing race and ethnicity as subfactors to be considered in the holistic review process, removing the demographic “checkbox” and instructing reviewers that race and ethnicity should not be considered. The admissions office also supervised file reviewers and conducted a review to identify any challenges with the changed policies.
Pitman said these policy revisions eliminate any live case or controversy. He said nothing in the record indicates the University intends to revert to its prior admissions practices and it wouldn’t make sense for the court to issue an injunction.
“As part of this new policy, UT Austin has instructed its admissions officers and employees accordingly,” Pitman wrote in his decision. “It has also created new processes to train and supervise its admissions officers and employees to ensure that they do not consider race or ethnicity as a factor in the admissions process.”
