As the national debate over affirmative action in higher education continues, a group of UNM law students and faculty have offered a New Mexico slant on the issue for the U.S. Supreme Court to consider.
Third-year law students Samantha Adams and Julie Sakura, along with UNM law professor Margaret Montoya, have written and filed an amicus, also called a "friend of the court," brief to accompany the University of Michigan's pro-affirmative action side of the landmark case Gruetter v. Bollinger.
Gruetter will be a continuation of the Regents of the Univ. of CA v. Bakke, in which the Court ruled that institutions of higher education are permitted to consider race as one criterion for purposes of admission.
The brief began as a project for students in Montoya's class, affirmative action/employment discrimination, and was filed with the Supreme Court Feb. 19, Montoya said.
"Julie Sakura suggested an amicus brief," Adams said. "I thought that was crazy because it was such a huge undertaking."
The students, with editorial and writing help from Montoya and statistical research help from student Anita Sanchez, originally planned to write the brief on behalf of UNM law students, Adams said. However, she added, an amicus brief is supposed to be innovative and is meant to inform the court about something it doesn't already know.
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"Most people who have written briefs for this case say that diversity in the classroom is compelling," Adams said. "We agree, but go a step further."
Others at UNM have different opinions on the controversial issue.
Wade Jackson, president of the UNM Law School chapter of the American Civil Rights Union, said that he opposes affirmative action and that he supports Barbara Gruetter.
"Our national organization is working on an amicus brief itself," Jackson said. "I'm not sure if it has been filed yet."
Adams and Sakura's brief was written on behalf of the New Mexico Hispanic Bar Association, the New Mexico Black Lawyers Association and the New Mexico Indian Bar Association.
"They are the 'friends of the court,'" Montoya said.
The brief presents two major points: the unique challenges that New Mexico faces, including statewide poverty, racial segregation and the challenges that American Indian tribes are faced with; and the things that UNM School of Law has done effectively, including using race as a criterion for admissions, specializing curriculum to fit the diverse student population and demonstrating that graduates are serving a diverse population.
After several drafts, edits and rewrites, the collaborative effort was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court as part of the Grutter case on Feb. 19, Montoya said.
The case was brought against the University of Michigan Board of Regents by Barbara Gruetter, a white woman, who claims that she was denied entry to Michigan's School of Law as a result of the University's affirmative action policy. Oral arguments will begin before the Supreme Court April 1, and the decision will be handed down before June 30.
"This dispute is partly about measures that are used to identify students who are qualified for law, medical and graduate school programs," Montoya said. "It is also about what race means in society."
Jackson agrees that the issue of affirmative action affects all of society.
"Anyone who has benefited from racial preference, there is also someone who suffers because of it," Jackson said. He added that although he has not read the group's brief, from what he knew of it, he is probably opposed to it because he disagrees with its legal analysis.
