Oral arguments are scheduled today (October 10) in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 631 F.2d 213 (5th Cir. 2011), cert. granted, 132 S. Ct. 1536 (Feb. 21, 2012). The case is a challenge to UT Austin’s consideration of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions and will be the first time the Court addresses affirmative action in higher education since Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003). The NYLS Racial Justice Project filed an amicus curiae brief in the case on behalf of the National Black Law Students Association. (See our previous post.)
The reference librarians of the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas have assembled a research guide for the case. The guide includes the text of selected court documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court; news coverage and law review articles about the Fisher case; and some basic information on UT student body profiles and statistics since 2008. Tarlton’s librarians will continue to follow the case and update the guide as new articles are published.