Forsaking Claims of Merit: The Advance of Race-Blindness Entitlement in Fisher v. Texas

Civil Rights Litigation and Attorney Fees Annual Handbook 335 (Steven Saltzman, ed.) 2013

Loyola-LA Legal Studies Paper No. 2014-42

42 Pages Posted: 10 Aug 2014 Last revised: 2 Sep 2014

See all articles by Kimberly West-Faulcon

Kimberly West-Faulcon

Loyola Law School Los Angeles; University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Date Written: December 7, 2013

Abstract

This article asserts that the Fisher v. University of Texas case sidelines the issue of equal racial opportunity to put forth the novel contention that the Equal Protection Clause affords a “race-blindness entitlement.” It distinguishes the Fisher lawsuit from earlier “reverse discrimination” cases by explaining how Abigail Fisher forsakes the type of test score-focused meritocracy claims that have been central in other discrimination lawsuits filed by rejected white applicants. The article suggests that the Fisher case is a harbinger of future efforts to convince the Supreme Court that the constitutional rights of white applicants are violated unless the government is somehow completely “race-blind.”

Keywords: equal protection clause, race, reverse discrimination, test score, SAT score, standardized tests, meritocracy, affirmative action, Fisher v. Texas, entitlement

Suggested Citation

West-Faulcon, Kimberly, Forsaking Claims of Merit: The Advance of Race-Blindness Entitlement in Fisher v. Texas (December 7, 2013). Civil Rights Litigation and Attorney Fees Annual Handbook 335 (Steven Saltzman, ed.) 2013, Loyola-LA Legal Studies Paper No. 2014-42, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2477587

Kimberly West-Faulcon (Contact Author)

Loyola Law School Los Angeles ( email )

919 Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211
United States
213-736-8172 (Phone)

University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

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