LDF President & Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill appeared on the Andrea Mitchell Report on MSNBC to explain the Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher v. University of Texas and to talk about the still-to-be-decided case of Shelby County, Alabama. As Ifill explained, in Fisher the Court reaffirmed the principle of diversity it articulated in Grutter v. University of Michigan ten years ago. In Fisher, the majority held that universities can use race as a factor in admissions in order to gain the educational benefits of diversity, but must demonstrate that “no available, workable, race-neutral alternative” could provide the diversity the university seeks. Ifill stressed that the Shelby County, Ala. case, in which the state of Alabama challenged a key provision of the Voting Rights Act,is a potentially a “game changer” for democratic participation for minority voters in this country.
