U-M lawyer clarifies court ruling

The lawyer who won the University of Michigan law school case in the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stern warning Wednesday to colleges nationwide: The court's ruling is not a blank check to use race to boost minority enrollment.\nUniversities must make sure their admissions process is fair and gives individual consideration to each applicant, Maureen Mahoney said in an interview in Ann Arbor. Mahoney is a partner at Latham & Watkins in Washington D.C.\nThe court upheld U-M's law school admissions policy in June but struck down the 150-point undergraduate system that awarded 20 points to underrepresented minorities -- the equivalent of a full letter grade boost. The court found that the policy did not consider each applicant as an individual.\n"This decision should not be viewed as a green light to use race in an unchecked way," said Mahoney, who has won 11 of the 12 cases she's argued before the high court. "Universities should not place emphasis on the need to beat or exceed last year's minority enrollment percentages. It's not about ensuring specific percentages; it's about fair consideration for everyone. That includes the special contribution minority students can make to the class."\nThe decision in the law school case reaffirmed the court's 1978 ruling in the Bakke case that permitted race as a factor to further diversity. But many universities overemphasized the use of race, Mahoney said.\nUniversities also have a responsibility to improve the quality of K-12 education so consideration of race can be eliminated, Mahoney said. In her majority opinion in the law school case, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said that in 25 years, racial preferences should not be necessary to further diversity. It was the same hope expressed by Justice Lewis Powell in 1978.\n"The educational community has to take steps to reduce the disparities that make preferences necessary," Mahoney said. "They need to make sure there is enough money left over for early education initiatives. If they only try to get their share of the pie at the expense of these other efforts, they are not meeting the responsibilities imposed by the court's directives."\nCommunities also need to step up, she said.\n"It's not just about what universities do. It's about all of America and how we're going to prioritize," she said. "We can all help in ways such as volunteer tutoring."\nMahoney is a former U.S. deputy solicitor general and law clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Former U.S. Solicitor General Ken Starr volunteered as a judge on her moot court panel when she prepared to argue the law school case this year.\nAs California businessman Ward Connerly prepares to launch a ballot initiative banning the use of racial considerations in public education admissions and hiring in Michigan, educators need to defend the value of diversity, Mahoney said.\n"Universities have a responsibility to persuade the electorate that the benefits are just as important as the court thought and the programs are going to be applied in a way that minimizes the burdens," she said.