The Federal Update for July 06, 2018 From: Michael Brustein, Julia Martin, Steven Spillan, Kelly Christiansen DOJ Rescinds Guidance on Race in College Admissions The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced late Tuesday afternoon that it would , including several related to the use of race to achieve diversity in postsecondary education. Many of these guidance documents were issued following the Supreme Court case and offered institutions information on how the federal Fisher v. University of Texas government would treat institutions who considered the race of applicants in the admissions process. That guidance told institutions they were not required to in the remain “race-neutral” application process if that would in their judgment. be “unworkable” However, the standard set in previous Supreme Court cases regarding the permissibility of race-conscious admissions remains intact. In cases like Fisher, the Court has said that there are compelling educational benefits for students to be gained from institutional diversity, and that standard has not changed. The Obama-era guidance merely encouraged institutions to consider the importance of diversity. Still, some analyses have noted that this decision especially combined with an ongoing investigation into – use of race-conscious admissions may be signaling to institutions that they Harvard’s – should be more careful about how they consider race. In its announcement, DOJ traces this rescission to a February 2017 Executive Order, in which President Trump asked agencies to identify existing regulations for repeal, replacement or modification if they were unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper. According to a statement from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, DOJ believes these guidance documents to be unnecessary and overly previous administrations, however, agencies often tried to impose new burdensome. “In rules on the American people without any public notice or comment period, simply by sending a letter or posting a guidance document on a and not website. That’s wrong, it’s he good government,” he wrote. Furthermore, said, those guidelines “advocate policy preferences and positions beyond the requirements of the Constitution.”
The Federal Update for July 06, 2018 From: Michael Brustein, Julia Martin, Steven Spillan, Kelly Christiansen DOJ Rescinds Guidance on Race in College Admissions The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced late Tuesday afternoon that it would , including several related to the use of race to achieve diversity in postsecondary education. Many of these guidance documents were issued following the Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas and offered institutions information on how the federal government would treat institutions who considered the race of applicants in the admissions process. That guidance told institutions they were not required to remain “race-neutral” in the application process if that would be “unworkable” in their judgment. However, the standard set in previous Supreme Court cases regarding the permissibility of race-conscious admissions remains intact. In cases like Fisher, the Court has said that there are compelling educational benefits for students to be gained from institutional diversity, and that standard has not changed. The Obama-era guidance merely encouraged institutions to consider the importance of diversity. Still, some analyses have noted that this decision – especially combined with an ongoing investigation into Harvard’s use of race-conscious admissions – may be signaling to institutions that they should be more careful about how they consider race. In its announcement, DOJ traces this rescission to a February 2017 Executive Order, in which President Trump asked agencies to identify existing regulations for repeal, replacement or modification if they were unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper. According to a statement from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, DOJ believes these guidance documents to be unnecessary and overly burdensome. “In previous administrations, however, agencies often tried to impose new rules on the American people without any public notice or comment period, simply by sending a letter or posting a guidance document on a website. That’s wrong, and it’s not good government,” he wrote. Furthermore, he said, those guidelines “advocate policy preferences and positions beyond the requirements of the Constitution.”
fedupdate070618.docx