Grutter v. Bollinger

(Redirected from Grutter v Bollinger)

2003 United States Supreme Court case

Grutter v. Bollinger
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 1, 2003 Decided June 23, 2003
Full case name	Barbara Grutter, Petitioner v. Lee Bollinger, et al.
Docket no.	02-241
Citations	539 U.S. 306 (more)123 S.Ct. 2325; 156 L. Ed. 2d 304; 71 U.S.L.W. 4498; 91 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1761; 84 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) ¶ 41,415; 177 Ed. Law Rep. 801; 03 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5378; 2003 Daily Journal D.A.R. 6800; 16 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 367
Case history
Prior	Held for Plaintiff and enjoined use of current admissions policy, 137 F. Supp. 2d 821 (E.D. Mich. 2001); reversed, 288 F.3d 732 (6th Cir. 2002) (en banc); certiorari granted 537 U.S. 1043 (2002)
Subsequent	Rehearing denied, 539 U.S. 982 (2003)
Holding
University of Michigan Law School admissions program that gave special consideration for being a certain racial minority did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	O'Connor, joined by Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer; Scalia, Thomas (in part)
Concurrence	Ginsburg, joined by Breyer
Concur/dissent	Scalia, joined by Thomas
Concur/dissent	Thomas, joined by Scalia (Parts I–VII)
Dissent	Rehnquist, joined by Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas
Dissent	Kennedy
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV
Abrogated by
Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023) Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina (2023)

Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003), was a landmark case of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning affirmative action in student admissions. The Court held that a student admissions process that favors "underrepresented minority groups" did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause so long as it took into account other factors evaluated on an individual basis for every applicant. The decision largely upheld the Court's decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), which allowed race to be a consideration in admissions policy but held racial quotas to be unconstitutional. In Gratz v. Bollinger (2003), a separate case decided on the same day as Grutter, the Court struck down a points-based admissions system that awarded an automatic bonus to the admissions scores of minority applicants.

The case arose after a prospective student to the University of Michigan Law School alleged that she had been denied admission because the school gave certain minority groups a significantly greater chance of admission. The school admitted that its admission process favored certain minority groups, but argued that there was a compelling state interest to ensure a "critical mass" of students from minority groups. In a majority opinion joined by four other justices, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor held that the Constitution "does not prohibit the law school's narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body."

In her majority opinion, O'Connor wrote that "race-conscious admissions policies must be limited in time," adding that the "Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today." Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer joined the Court's opinion, but did not subscribe to the belief that the affirmative measures in question would be unnecessary in 25 years. In a dissent joined by three other justices, Chief Justice William Rehnquist argued that the university's admissions system was, in fact, a thinly veiled and unconstitutional quota system.

In 2023, the Supreme Court effectively overruled Grutter v. Bollinger in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, finding that affirmative action in student admissions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Dispute

When the University of Michigan Law School denied admission to Barbara Grutter, a Michigan resident with a 3.8 GPA and 161 LSAT score, she filed this suit, alleging that respondents had discriminated against her on the basis of race in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as 42 U.S.C. § 1981; that she was rejected because the Law School uses race as a "predominant" factor, giving applicants belonging to certain minority groups a significantly greater chance of admission than students with similar credentials from disfavored racial groups; and that respondents had no compelling interest to justify that use of race. Lee Bollinger (then-President of the University of Michigan), was the named defendant of this case.

The University argued that there was a compelling state interest to ensure a "critical mass" of students from minority groups, particularly African Americans and Hispanics, which is realized within the student body. They argued that this aims to "ensure that these minority students do not feel isolated or like spokespersons for their race; to provide adequate opportunities for the type of interaction upon which the educational benefits of diversity depend; and to challenge all students to think critically and re-examine stereotypes."

Lower courts

In March 2001, U.S. District Court Judge Bernard A. Friedman ruled that the admissions policies were unconstitutional because they "clearly consider" race and are "practically indistinguishable from a quota system." Due to the significance of the case, the Court of Appeals agreed to hear the case en banc. In May 2002, in a closely divided 5–4 ruling, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision, citing the Bakke decision and allowing the use of race to further the "compelling interest" of diversity. The plaintiffs subsequently requested the Supreme Court review. The Court agreed to hear the case, the first time the Court had heard a case on affirmative action in education since the landmark Bakke decision of 25 years prior.

On April 1, 2003 the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Grutter. The Court allowed the recordings of the arguments to be released to the public the same day, only the second time the Court had allowed same-day release of oral arguments. The first time was Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), the case that ultimately ended the 2000 presidential election.

Supreme Court's decision

The Court's majority ruling, authored by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, held that the United States Constitution "does not prohibit the law school's narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body." The Court held that the law school's interest in obtaining a "critical mass" of minority students was indeed a "tailored use". O'Connor noted that sometime in the future, perhaps twenty-five years hence, racial affirmative action would no longer be necessary in order to promote diversity. It implied that affirmative action should not be allowed permanent status and that eventually a "colorblind" policy should be implemented. The opinion read, "race-conscious admissions policies must be limited in time." "The Court takes the Law School at its word that it would like nothing better than to find a race-neutral admissions formula and will terminate its use of racial preferences as soon as practicable. The Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today." The phrase "25 years from now" was echoed by Justice Thomas in his dissent. Justice Thomas, writing that the system was "illegal now", concurred with the majority only on the point that he agreed the system would still be illegal 25 years hence.

The decision largely upheld the position asserted in Justice Powell's concurrence in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, which allowed race to be a consideration in admissions policy, but held that quotas were illegal.

Public universities and other public institutions of higher education across the nation are now allowed to use race as a plus factor in determining whether a student should be admitted. While race may not be the only factor, the decision allows admissions bodies to take race into consideration along with other individualized factors in reviewing a student's application. O'Connor's opinion answers the question for the time being as to whether "diversity" in higher education is a compelling governmental interest. As long as the program is "narrowly tailored" to achieve that end, it seems likely that the Court will find it constitutional.

In the majority were Justices O'Connor, Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer. Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas dissented. Much of the dissent concerned a disbelief in the validity of the law school's claim that the system was necessary to create a "critical mass" of minority students and provide a diverse educational environment. In the dissent, Chief Justice Rehnquist used admissions data to argue that unconstitutional discrimination occurred, despite the precedent set in McCleskey v. Kemp that dismisses statistical racial disparities as doctrinally irrelevant in equal protection claims.

The case was heard in conjunction with Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003), in which the Court struck down the University of Michigan's more rigid, point-based undergraduate admission policy, which was essentially deemed a quota system. The case generated a record number of amicus curiae briefs from institutional supporters of affirmative action. A lawyer who filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of members and former members of the Pennsylvania legislature, State Rep. Mark B. Cohen of Philadelphia, said that Sandra Day O'Connor's majority decision in Grutter v. Bollinger was a "ringing affirmation of the goal of an inclusive society." In both Grutter and Gratz, O'Connor was the swing vote.

Dissent

Chief Justice Rehnquist, joined by Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy, and Justice Thomas, argued the Law School's admissions policy was an attempt to achieve an unconstitutional type of racial balancing. The Chief Justice attacked the Law School's asserted goal of reaching a "critical mass" of minority students, finding the absolute number of African-American, Hispanic, and Native American students varied markedly, which is inconsistent with the concept in that one would think the same size critical mass would be needed for all minority groups. He noted that "rom 1995 through 2000, the Law School admitted... between 13 and 19... Native American, between 91 and 108... African American, and between 47 and 56... Hispanic... One would have to believe that the objectives of 'critical mass' offered by respondents are achieved with only half the number of Hispanics, and one-sixth the number of Native Americans as compared to African Americans." Citing admissions statistics, the Chief Justice noted the tight correlation between the percentage of applicants and admittees of a given race and argued that the numbers were "far too precise to be dismissed as merely the result of the school paying 'some attention to numbers.'"

Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Scalia, issued a strongly worded opinion, concurring in part and dissenting in part, arguing that if Michigan could not remain a prestigious institution and admit students under a race-neutral system, the "Law School should be forced to choose between its classroom aesthetic and its exclusionary admissions system." In Justice Thomas' opinion, there is no compelling state interest in Michigan maintaining an elite law school, because a number of states do not have law schools, let alone elite ones. Moreover, Justice Thomas noted that in United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996), the Court required the Virginia Military Institute to radically reshape its admissions process and the character of that institution.

Another criticism raised by Justice Thomas compared Michigan Law to the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where California's Proposition 209 had barred Berkeley Law from "granting preferential treatment on the basis of race in the operation of public education." Despite Proposition 209, however, Berkeley Law was still able to achieve a diverse student body. According to Thomas, "the Court is willfully blind to the very real experience in California and elsewhere, which raises the inference that institutions with 'reputations for excellence'...rivaling have satisfied their sense of mission without resorting to prohibited racial discrimination."

A final criticism leveled at Justice O'Connor's opinion was the length of time the racial admissions policy will be lawful. Justice Thomas concurred that racial preferences would be unlawful in 25 years, however, he contended that in fact the Court should have found race-based affirmative action programs in higher education unlawful now:

I therefore can understand the imposition of a 25-year ban limit only as a holding that the deference the Court pays to the Law School's educational judgments and refusal to change its admissions policies will itself expire. At that point these policies will clearly have failed to "'eliminate the need for any racial or ethnic'" discrimination because the academic credentials gap will still be there. The Court defines this time limit in terms of narrow tailoring, but I believe this arises from its refusal to define rigorously the broad state interest vindicated today. . With these observations, I join the last sentence of Part III of the opinion of the Court.

Timeline of federal courts' decisions

The District Court found the Law School's use of race as an admissions factor unlawful.
The Sixth Circuit reversed, holding that Justice Powell's opinion in Bakke was binding precedent establishing diversity as a compelling state interest, and that the Law School's use of race was narrowly tailored because race was merely a "potential 'plus' factor" and because the Law School's program was virtually identical to the Harvard admissions program described approvingly by Justice Powell and appended to his Bakke opinion.
The Supreme Court affirmed the Sixth Circuit's reversal of the District Court decision, thereby upholding the University's admissions policy.

Law adopted post case

Following the decision, petitions were circulated to change the Michigan State Constitution. The measure, called the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, or Proposal 2, passed in November 2006 and prohibited the use of race in the Law School admissions processes. In this respect, Proposal 2 is similar to California's Proposition 209 and Washington's Initiative 200, other initiatives that also banned the use of race in public university admissions decisions.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit overturned MCRI on July 1, 2011. Judges R. Guy Cole Jr. and Martha Craig Daughtrey said that "Proposal 2 reorders the political process in Michigan to place special burdens on minority interests." This decision was upheld by the full Court of Appeals on November 16, 2012. After the ruling, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced he would appeal the court ruling to the Supreme Court. On March 25, 2013 the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari, agreeing to hear the case. The Court ultimately upheld MCRI in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action.

The Supreme Court decided a challenge to the University of Texas at Austin's admission policy, Fisher v. University of Texas, in June 2013. In this case, the Court reaffirmed that universities were entitled to deference on their judgment that diversity is a compelling state interest. Importantly, though, the Court ruled that a university was entitled to "no deference" on its judgment that race-based affirmative action was necessary to achieve diversity and its educational benefits. The Court remanded the case to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration, and that court again upheld UT's use of race. The plaintiff again appealed to the Supreme Court in 2016, which held that the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit correctly found that the University of Texas at Austin's undergraduate admissions policy survived strict scrutiny, in accordance with Fisher v. University of Texas (2013).

The same advocacy group and legal team challenging UT Austin also filed lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in November 2014. These cases are pending in U.S. District Courts and are partially on hold until the Supreme Court provides further guidance in its second UT Austin ruling.

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2020)

Further challenge

The Supreme Court granted certiorari to Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina, two cases dealing with race-based admissions at Harvard College and The University of North Carolina in January. The Court issued its opinion in the two cases and found that the colleges did not properly follow the Grutter standard in the manner in which race was incorporated into the admissions process.

References

Boggs, Justin (June 29, 2023). "Supreme Court overturns college affirmative action policies". KIVI-TV. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
Pg. 73 The Legal & Regulatory Environment of Business
Past Presidents of the University of Michigan; "Past Presidents | Office of the President". Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
Feingold, Jonathan (2019). "Hidden in Plain Sight: A More Compelling Case for Diversity". Utah Law Review. 2019 (1): 59.
Feingold, Jonathan (2018). "Eyes Wide Open: What Social Science Can Tell Us About the Supreme Court's Use of Social Science". Northwestern University Law Review. 112.
Baldus, David C.; Pulaski, Charles A.; Woodworth, George (1992). "Law and Statistics in Conflict: Reflections on McCleskey v. Kemp". In Kagehiro, Dorothy K.; Laufer, William S. (eds.). Handbook of Psychology and Law. New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 271–291. ISBN 0-387-97568-3.
^ Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003).
"Appeals court strikes down Michigan's affirmative action ban". CNN News. November 16, 2012. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
"Supreme Court will consider challenge to affirmative action in college admissions". NBC News. January 24, 2022.
"Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College". SCOTUSblif. Retrieved June 30, 2023.

External links

Text of Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia Library of Congress
Text of Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia Library of Congress
Briefs, Decisions and audio recordings (mp3 & realmedia)
(Oral Argument recording)

University of Michigan

Located in: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Colleges

Athletics

Teams	Michigan Wolverines Baseball Men's basketball Women's basketball Field hockey Football Men's gymnastics Women's gymnastics Men's ice hockey Men's lacrosse Women's lacrosse Rugby Men's soccer Women's soccer Softball Swimming Track and field Women's volleyball
Venues	Alumni Field Canham Natatorium Crisler Center Ferry Field Michigan Stadium Phyllis Ocker Field Ray Fisher Stadium Regents Field Waterman Gymnasium Yost Ice Arena
Other	Cold War Little Brown Jug Paul Bunyan Trophy The Big Chill at the Big House Michigan–Michigan State basketball rivalry Michigan–Michigan State ice hockey rivalry Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry Michigan–Ohio State basketball rivalry

Campus

Museums	Archaeology Art Behind the Walls Daedalus Orion The Romanovs Collect Shang Stiff Box 12 Dentistry Natural History
Botanical	Herbarium Matthaei Botanical Gardens Nichols Arboretum

Media

People

Research

Student life

History

Campuses

Founded: 1817
Students: 52,065 (2023)
Endowment: $17.9 billion (2023)

Affirmative action in the United States

Supreme Court and
lower court decisions

Education	DeFunis v. Odegaard (1974) Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) United States v. Fordice (1992) Hopwood v. Texas (5th Cir. 1996) Texas v. Lesage (1999) Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) Doe v. Kamehameha Schools/Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate (9th Cir. 2006) Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007) Fisher v. University of Texas I (2013) Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014) Fisher v. University of Texas II (2016) Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board (4th Cir. 2023) Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023)
Employment	Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971) Morton v. Mancari (1974) Schlesinger v. Ballard (1975) Hazelwood School District v. United States (1977) United Steelworkers v. Weber (1979) Firefighters v. Stotts (1984) Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education (1986) Sheet Metal Workers v. EEOC (1986) Firefighters v. City of Cleveland (1986) United States v. Paradise (1987) Johnson v. Transportation Agency (1987) Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio (1989) Piscataway School Board v. Taxman (3d Cir. 1996) Ricci v. DeStefano (2009) Charlton-Perkins v. University of Cincinnati (6th Cir. 2022)
Grants, Contracting, and Set-Asides	Kahn v. Shevin (1974) Califano v. Webster (1977) Fullilove v. Klutznick (1980) City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co. (1989) Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC (1990) Lamprecht v. FCC (D.C. Cir. 1992) Northeastern Fla. Chapter, Associated Gen. Contractors of America v. City of Jacksonville (1993) Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña (1995) Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Slater (2000) Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Mineta (2001) Vitolo v. Guzman (6th Cir. 2021)

Federal legislation
and edicts

Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866
Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
Executive Order 10925 (1961)
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Executive Order 11246 (1965)

State initiatives

Proposition 209 (CA, 1996)
Initiative 200 (WA, 1998)
Proposal 2 (MI, 2006)
Amendment 46 (CO, 2008, failed)
Initiative 424 (NE, 2008)
Proposition 107 (AZ, 2010)
State Question 759 (OK, 2012)
Referendum 88 (WA, 2019, failed)
Proposition 16 (CA, 2020, failed)

People

United States Fourteenth Amendment case law

Citizenship Clause
Slaughter-House Cases (1873) Minor v. Happersett (1875) Elk v. Wilkins (1884) United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) Mackenzie v. Hare (1915) Perez v. Brownell (1958) Afroyim v. Rusk (1967) Rogers v. Bellei (1971) Saenz v. Roe (1999)

Due Process Clause

Economic substantive due process	Mugler v. Kansas (1887) Allgeyer v. Louisiana (1897) Holden v. Hardy (1898) Lochner v. New York (1905) Muller v. Oregon (1908) Coppage v. Kansas (1915) Buchanan v. Warley (1917) Adams v. Tanner (1917) O'Gorman & Young, Inc. v. Hartford Fire Insurance Co. (1931) West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937)
Right to privacy	Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925) Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) Roe v. Wade (1973) Doe v. Bolton (1973) Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) Lawrence v. Texas (2003) Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022)
Abortion jurisprudence	United States v. Vuitch (1971) Roe v. Wade (1973) Doe v. Bolton (1973) Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth (1976) Bellotti v. Baird I (1976) Colautti v. Franklin (1979) Bellotti v. Baird II (1979) H. L. v. Matheson (1981) City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health (1983) Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (1986) Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) Hodgson v. Minnesota (1990) Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health (1990) Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) Leavitt v. Jane L. (1996) Lambert v. Wicklund (1997) Mazurek v. Armstrong (1997) Stenberg v. Carhart (2000) Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (2006) Gonzales v. Carhart (2007) Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) Azar v. Garza (2018) Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc. (2019) June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo (2020) Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022)
Litigation under R.S. § 1979 (42 U.S.C. 1983)	Monroe v. Pape (1961) McNeese v. Board of Education (1963) Pierson v. Ray (1967) Jenkins v. McKeithen (1969) Scheuer v. Rhodes (1974) Wood v. Strickland (1975) O'Connor v. Donaldson (1975) Paul v. Davis (1976) Imbler v. Pachtman (1976) Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York (1978) Procunier v. Navarette (1978) Owen v. City of Independence (1980) Harlow v. Fitzgerald (1982) Felder v. Casey (1988) Will v. Michigan Department of State Police (1989) Gonzaga University v. Doe (2002) Inyo County v. Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Bishop Community (2003) City of Rancho Palos Verdes v. Abrams (2005) Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee (2009) Ashcroft v. Iqbal (2009) Los Angeles County v. Humphries (2010) Connick v. Thompson (2011)
Other	Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905) Zucht v. King (1922) Buck v. Bell (1927) Powell v. Alabama (1932) Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. (1950) NAACP v. Alabama (1958) Hoyt v. Florida (1961) Oyler v. Boles (1962) Loving v. Virginia (1967) Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) In re Winship (1971) Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur (1974) Arnett v. Kennedy (1974) Taylor v. Louisiana (1975) Goss v. Lopez (1975) Mathews v. Eldridge (1976) Moore v. City of East Cleveland (1977) Duren v. Missouri (1979) Parham v. J.R. (1979) Parratt v. Taylor (1981) Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co. (1982) Kolender v. Lawson (1983) Hudson v. Palmer (1984) Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill (1985) Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) Turner v. Safley (1987) DeShaney v. Winnebago County (1989) Michael H. v. Gerald D. (1989) Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health (1990) Washington v. Glucksberg (1997) Troxel v. Granville (2000) Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co. (2009) Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) Williams v. Pennsylvania (2016)

Equal Protection Clause

Race	Pace v. Alabama (1883) Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886) Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education (1899) Lum v. Rice (1927) Smith v. Texas (1940) Hirabayashi v. United States (1943) Korematsu v. United States (1944) Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma (1948) Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) Perez v. Sharp (Cal. 1948) Sweatt v. Painter (1950) McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Briggs v. Elliott Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County Gebhart v. Belton Lucy v. Adams (1955) Browder v. Gayle (M.D. Ala. 1956) Anderson v. Martin (1964) Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (1964) McLaughlin v. Florida (1964) Reitman v. Mulkey (1967) Loving v. Virginia (1967) Lee v. Washington (1968) Green v. County School Board of New Kent County (1968) Hunter v. Erickson (1969) Hadnott v. Amos (1969) United States v. Montgomery County Board of Education (1969) Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education (1969) Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971) McDaniel v. Barresi (1971) Palmer v. Thompson (1971) Coit v. Green (1971) Guey Heung Lee v. Johnson (1971) Jefferson v. Hackney (1972) Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver (1973) Norwood v. Harrison (1973) Milliken v. Bradley (1974) Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. (1977) Dayton Bd. of Ed. v. Brinkman (1977) Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) Washington v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 (1982) Crawford v. Los Angeles Board of Education (1982) Palmore v. Sidoti (1984) Hunter v. Underwood (1985) Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education (1986) City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co. (1989) Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. Dowell (1991) Freeman v. Pitts (1992) United States v. Fordice (1992) Northeastern Fla. Chapter, Associated Gen. Contractors of America v. Jacksonville (1993) Missouri v. Jenkins (1995) Texas v. Lesage (1999) Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) Johnson v. California (2005) Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007) Fisher v. University of Texas I (2013) Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014) Fisher v. University of Texas II (2016) Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023)
Sex	Breedlove v. Suttles (1937) Goesaert v. Cleary (1948) Reed v. Reed (1971) Moritz v. Commissioner (1972) Kahn v. Shevin (1974) Geduldig v. Aiello (1974) Stanton v. Stanton (1975) Edwards v. Healy (1975) Craig v. Boren (1976) Orr v. Orr (1979) Parham v. Hughes (1979) Caban v. Mohammed (1979) Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney (1979) Wengler v. Druggists Mut. Ins. Co. (1980) Kirchberg v. Feenstra (1981) Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County (1981) Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan (1982) Lehr v. Robertson (1983) J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B. (1994) United States v. Virginia (1996) United States v. Skrmetti (2024)
Sexual orientation	Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) Romer v. Evans (1996) Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
Alienage	Patsone v. Pennsylvania (1914) Truax v. Raich (1915) Heim v. McCall (1915) Crane v. New York (1915) Terrace v. Thompson (1923) Porterfield v. Webb (1923) Webb v. O'Brien (1923) Frick v. Webb (1923) Ohio ex rel. Clark v. Deckebach (1927) Takahashi v. Fish and Game Comm'n (1948) Hernandez v. Texas (1954) Graham v. Richardson (1971) Sugarman v. Dougall (1973) In re Griffiths (1973) Examining Board v. Flores de Otero (1976) Nyquist v. Mauclet (1977) Foley v. Connelie (1978) Ambach v. Norwick (1979) Cabell v. Chavez-Salido (1982) Plyler v. Doe (1982) Bernal v. Fainter (1984)
Residency	Shapiro v. Thompson (1969) Arlington County Board v. Richards (1977) Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Ward (1985)
Other	United States v. Cruikshank (1876) Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co. (1886) Quaker City Cab Co. v. Commonwealth (1928) Breedlove v. Suttles (1937) Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942) Oyama v. California (1948) Oyler v. Boles (1962) Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966) Rinaldi v. Yeager (1966) Levy v. Louisiana (1968) Williams v. Rhodes (1968) Oregon v. Mitchell (1970) Boddie v. Connecticut (1971) Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) Lehnhausen v. Lake Shore Auto Parts Co. (1973) San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973) Richardson v. Ramirez (1974) Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas (1974) Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia (1976) Trimble v. Gordon (1977) Zablocki v. Redhail (1978) New York City Transit Authority v. Beazer (1979) Mills v. Habluetzel (1982) City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. (1985) Clark v. Jeter (1988) Kadrmas v. Dickinson Public Schools (1988) Gregory v. Ashcroft (1991) Vacco v. Quill (1997) Bush v. Gore (2000) Armour v. Indianapolis (2012)

Enforcement Clause

Civil Rights Cases (1883)
Katzenbach v. Morgan (1966)
Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer (1976)
Dellmuth v. Muth (1989)
City of Boerne v. Flores (1997)
Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank (1999)
Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents (2000)
United States v. Morrison (2000)
Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett (2001)
Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs (2003)
Tennessee v. Lane (2004)
United States v. Georgia (2006)
Shelby County v. Holder (2013)

Other
Gold Clause Cases (1935) Trump v. Anderson (2024)

Categories:

Misplaced Pages