WASHINGTON, DC — The Supreme Court today “gave us the worst of both worlds when it comes to affirmative action,” said Nancy M. Pfotenhauer, president of the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF). “By striking down the point system at the University of Michigan, while at the same time approving of the use of diversity as a rationale for government sponsored discrimination, the Court has guaranteed increased litigation and confusion.”
IWF had filed an amicus brief in the cases of Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger warning that quota systems endanger the American ideal of equal opportunity. IWF was joined by the Center for Equal Opportunity and American Civil Rights Institute in filing the brief.
“As a result of these rulings,” Pfotenhauer explained, “schools will continue to employ racial preferences, but now each and every rejected applicant will have a legal basis to challenge the rejection. In other words, each and every Affirmative Action plan will be subject to fact-specific scrutiny by the courts. This will, of course create a cottage industry of lawyers who specialize in these cases, saddle universities with enormous legal bills, and ultimately result in increased tuition for the students.”
The Independent Women’s Forum, founded in 1992, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.