Appeals court grants stay in Law School case

CINCINNATI—The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today (April 5) granted the University of Michigan’s request to stay last week’s district court ruling on the U-M Law School‘s admissions process. The three-judge panel also said it would expedite the University’s appeal.

Federal District Court Judge Bernard A. Friedman had issued an injunction March 27[link requires Acrobat or other .PDF file reader] ordering the U-M Law School to discontinue its use of race as a factor in admissions decisions. The Law School had temporarily halted making any further offers of admission pending a ruling from the appeals court.”We are delighted that the Sixth Circuit has acted promptly to ensure that our admissions process may continue without disruption,” said U-M Law Dean Jeffrey Lehman. “Our admissions policy was carefully crafted to comply with the Supreme Court’s requirements as set forth in the Bakke case.”As the Sixth Circuit Court noted, Judge Friedman’s opinion diverged from other recent interpretations of Bakke. We are confident that future decisions will continue to reaffirm our right to use that policy to enroll an outstanding, diverse student body at the University of Michigan Law School.”

In today’s decision, the Sixth Circuit Court wrote that “the injunction now in place irreparably harms the University of Michigan and disrupts the selection of the 2001-02 first-year law school class.” A total of 826 offers of admission have been extended so far this year out of about 1,000 offers that are made each year. The Law School typically receives about 3,500 applications for 350 spaces in each incoming class.

The Court also noted that the University’s appeal “presents serious questions on the merits. The district court’s reading of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) diverges from other interpretations of the case, including that in Gratz v. Bollinger, now pending before this court on appeal. The challenge the defendants make to the district court’s decision is more than sufficient to support a stay pending this appeal.”

A complete copy of the court’s decision is available on the Web at http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=01a0103p.06. Additional information about the University’s two affirmative action lawsuits is at http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/.

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Law Schoolissued an injunction March 27Jeffrey Lehmanhttp://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=01a0103p.06