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

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