Denver, CO — April 1, 2021 — Mountain States Legal Foundation on Wednesday filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of former Education Department officials who are asking the nation’s top court to review Harvard University admission policies that allegedly discriminate against Asian Americans and others based on race.
The officials worked in the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights under President Trump and Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The case they want the high court to hear is Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, which was brought by an association of students and parents who want to end Harvard admissions policies that discriminate against Asian American applicants.
When they worked for the Department of Education, these former federal officials rescinded numerous documents issued during the Obama era, which were in tension with settled case law. But since leaving in January 2021, the Biden Administration has already rescinded some of the work done to protect students from racial discrimination.
MSLF’s latest brief urges the Supreme Court to finally settle the extent to which schools can use race-conscious policies in making a host of educational decisions about admissions, class assignments, grading, and outright racial segregation of students.
“The fact of the matter is that federal guidance on race issues keeps changing, because Democrats and Republicans read the same cases differently. Only the Supreme Court can clear up the law,” said William E. Trachman, MSLF Associate General Counsel and former Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office for Civil Rights. “Schools and students could be forgiven for confusion over whether all manner of race-conscious education policies are allowed, or whether such policies implicate fundamental anti-discrimination principles.”
The Supreme Court won’t likely rule on whether to hear the case until Fall 2021.
Follow this link to read a case summary
Follow this link to read the filing