Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action - Reason Foundation

2things, they prohibit state colleges and universitiesfrom engaging in race-preferential admissions.The experience of CAS’s members puts it in auseful position to inform the Court about the legalissue presented in this case, which has been raisedand resolved in CCRI’s favor by both the U.S. Courtof Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the SupremeCourt of California. See infra at Section IA.Moreover, CAS is in an especially useful positionto inform the Court about the importance ofthis case. As a result of the en banc decision of theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, themovement to pass voter initiatives that prohibitstate-sponsored discrimination of this kind hascome to a near standstill. Already-existing initiativeshave been placed in legal jeopardy.This threatens to put the cause of higher educationreform back several decades. There is nowconsiderable evidence of the positive effects theseinitiatives have on the education of affirmative action’sso-called beneficiaries. See infra at SectionII. CCRI in particular has been the subject of significantempirical research since its passage in1996; CAS is in an excellent position to bring thisresearch to the Court’s attention. This evidence iscrucial to understanding how, for good or ill, theCourt’s decision in this case will strongly affect thefuture of American higher education and of the academicsuccess of minority students in particular.The Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence isthe public interest law arm of the Claremont Institutefor the Study of Statesmanship and PoliticalPhilosophy, the mission of which is to advocate for