Hunter brief asks high court to end race-based admissions at Harvard

OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General Mike Hunter today filed a brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case and overturn a lower court’s ruling on a case surrounding race-based college admissions at Harvard University.

The filing is in support of the organization Students for Fair Admissions in its appeal of a lawsuit against Harvard that claims the university discriminates against Asian-American applicants in its undergraduate admissions process.

Although during the 2014 trial the organization showed evidence that revealed Asian-American applicants of similar academic achievement were admitted at rates lower than others, both the federal court and an appeals court ruled in favor of the university.

Attorney General Hunter said the U.S. Supreme Court should right the wrong of a lower court.

“Discrimination in all its forms is wrong and inexcusable,” Attorney General Hunter said. “For one of our nation’s most prestigious universities to undertake this kind of behavior is appalling. The lower courts have grievously erred in the decision to allow this practice to continue. It is clear that the Civil Rights Act prohibits race-based admissions for universities receiving federal funding. Our brief explains how states like Oklahoma have prohibited race-conscious admissions, while remaining both diverse and academically competitive, without resorting to racial discrimination. The Supreme Court should overturn this decision. Without intervention, Harvard, and other universities will continue its discriminatory practices.”

Oklahoma banned the consideration of race in university admissions in 2012.

The U.S. Supreme Court should hear the case to ensure these practices end at Harvard and everywhere else, the attorney general writes.

Oklahoma was joined on the brief by 13 other states.

Read the brief, here: https://bit.ly/3sGeYNP.