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Fisher v. University of Texas

November 4th, 2012

Concurring: Fisher not being accepted to the University of Texas goes against her Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment stating that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.   Fisher was denied addmission because of her race, and this goes against her Equal Protection Clause. Such as in University of California v. Bakke, the 5-4 majority said that this case went against the Fourteenth Amendment because the process application saved 16 out of 100 places for students of minority. In Parents Involved In Community School v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1, students were allowed to choose what school they wanted to apply to. The more popular schools get to choose their top student’s, with one of their main decision factors being the students race. Chief Justice Roberts stated that this goes against the Equal Protection Clause, because there main goal was to have racial diversity compared to holistic “diversity in higher education.” Also in the case from 2009, Ricci v. DeStefano, firefighters were given promotions due to their race. This Court ruled that the work place should be a place free of discrimination. It is not fair to have two students, one white and one hispanic, with the same test scores but one be accepted because they are part of a minority. Colleges should look at the students achievements and base it solely on academics and after school involvement and not on the students race.