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Civil Rights & Equal Protection
Grutter v. Bollinger
Decided: 2003
In brief
Upheld narrowly tailored use of race in law school admissions to further diversity.
The Court's ruling in depth
The University of Michigan Law School's admissions program considered race as one factor among many in individualized review. The Court upheld it 5–4, reaffirming Bakke and endorsing 'diversity' as a compelling interest — though Justice O'Connor's opinion predicted, and hoped, that racial preferences would no longer be necessary within 25 years. Twenty years later, SFFA fulfilled that prediction.