The Hopwood Split Widens

[Eugene Volokh]

        I agree this case is much worth reading, but I don't think it exactly
widens the Hopwood split on whether intellectual diversity is a compelling
government interest that justifies race-based classifications.  The 11th
Circuit specifically declined to reach this question, holding that *even if*
it was a compelling government interest, the U. Ga. program wasn't narrowly
tailored to it.  The opinion did state that Bakke cannot, given Marks, be
read as holding what only Justice Powell's opinion declared; but this was
self-consciously dictum, and in any event wasn't intended to resolve the
compelling government interest issue so much as to simply state that it's
unresolved.

        Eugene

> -----Original Message-----
>
>
> A federal appeals court Monday declared unconstitutional an admissions
> policy at the University of Georgia that gave minorities a numerical
> boost. The three-judge panel 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a
> lower court's ruling in favor of three white women who were denied
> admission in 1999. The appeals court said the policy, which awarded
> race-based points to borderline students, violated the Constitution's
> equal-protection clause.
>
> http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/1110/8-27-2001/20010827185935720.html
>
> Johnson v. Bd. Of Regents Of The Univ. of Georgia (11th Cir.)
> http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/11th/0014340opn.html
>
>
>