"We remain committed to assembling a student body at the University of Texas at Austin that provides the educational benefits of diversity on campus while respecting the rights of all students and acting within the constitutional framework established by the court," he said.
The court seems unlikely to use this case to overrule its prior holdings that state universities may consider race as a "plus factor" in assembling a student body without violating the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Constitution.
Once the kids had finished assembling, a student organizer stood on a chair and explained to the crowd that, at the top of each minute, a group of them would take turns saying the name and age of one Parkland victim.
When they assembled a student troupe in 1956, the response was so positive that they expanded it into what is now Tulsa Ballet, with a repertory including 19th-century classics, ballets in the 20th-century Ballets Russes tradition and contemporary works.
The law school's current admissions program considers race as one factor among many, in an effort to assemble a student body that is diverse in ways broader than race.
She added: "Moreover, even assuming such plans are race-neutral, they may preclude the university from conducting the individualized assessments necessary to assemble a student body that is not just racially diverse, but diverse along all the qualities valued by the university".
Finally, racial-preference programs served the goal of assembling a diverse student body, one in which students from big cities would interact with those from rural areas, in which musicians would attend classes with athletes and, yes, in which students of different racial backgrounds would learn from one another.
Applying strict scrutiny, the district court determined that the law school's asserted interest in assembling a diverse student body was not compelling because "the attainment of a racially diverse class... was not recognized as such by Bakke and is not a remedy for past discrimination".
Chief Justice Roberts, after posing only one question to the lawyer representing Abigail Fisher, the rejected white applicant who filed a lawsuit claiming she was unconstitutionally discriminated against, flung 27 questions at the university's lawyer, Gregory G. Garre, many seemingly designed to make the university's commitment to assembling a diverse student body look silly.
Of primary importance, they contend, is that the rulings affirm their right to assemble a diverse student body, weighing race as one of many factors in admissions.
But the university's larger defense is that it must be free to assemble a varied student body as part of its academic and societal mission.
