Hopwood v. Texas

In their case, the plaintiffs asserted that the University of Texas admissions policy violated their civil rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The provision states that:

No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity reserving Federal financial assistance.

During the court proceedings, officials at the University of Texas revealed that they admitted students under a policy that dealt with non-minorities and "protected" minorities (Hispanic and African American) separately, which is called "dual admissions" and is, under the terms of a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, unconstitutional. In University of California v. Bakke (1978) the Court declared that race was an acceptable factor in a school's admissions policy, provided it was used to correct past discrimination, and to achieve a more diverse student body. It gave approval to using race as a determining factor on an individual basis in considering applicants, but did not allow for a separate system of consideration with lower admissions standards for minorities. The Court also noted that "quotas," or reserving a certain number of places in a school for minorities, was unlawful.