Appeals panel backs UW Law School's use of race in admissions

The University of Washington Law School did not illegally discriminate against three white applicants when it denied them admission in the mid-1990s, a federal appeals court panel ruled Monday. The decision upheld a 2002 ruling by U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly, and means Katuria Smith, Angela Rock and Michael Pyle are not entitled to damages. The three became poster children for the campaign to pass Initiative 200, which eliminated state preference for women and minorities in education, hiring and contracting. Until the initiative passed in 1998, the law school considered race as one factor in admissions. The three argued that without the policy, they would have been admitted. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the Smith case - and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed in its University of Michigan Law School decision last year - that ensuring educational diversity was a legitimate goal of the state.The Supreme Court's ruling set out five criteria for public universities to use in establishing admissions policies that consider race. The policies must not use quotas; must consider the individual characteristics of each applicant; must consider race-neutral ways to encourage diversity; must not unduly harm any racial group member; and must have a sunset provision or some other end point. On Monday, the three-judge 9th Circuit panel found that the UW Law School's admissions policy from 1994-96 met those criteria. [more]