NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF)
Outpouring of U.S. Supreme Court Amicus Briefs Filed in Support of Diversity in
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin
The U.S. Supreme Court received an avalanche of 73 amici or “friend of the court” briefs
supporting diversity in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. The briefs came from 37 highranking retired military and defense officials (including three former chairmen of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff—General Colin L. Powell, Admiral Michael G. Mullen and General Henry H.
Shelton), 57 leading corporations, the United States, organizations representing students from
diverse backgrounds, 444 prominent social scientists, the Anti-Defamation League, a large
number of educational associations, and over 100 colleges and universities. The institutions of
higher education range from public flagship schools (e.g., University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill and the President and Chancellors of the University of California) to eight Catholic
universities (e.g., Fordham, Georgetown, Notre Dame) to 37 private liberal arts colleges (e.g.,
Amherst, Oberlin, Wesleyan) and all of the Ivy League schools. Additional briefs were filed by,
among others, small business owners, 17 U.S. Senators, the National League of Cities, California
and other states, major religious denominations, labor unions, the College Board, Teach for
America, and civil and human rights organizations (e.g., the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,
Latino organizations, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian American
Center for Advancing Justice, National Women’s Law Center, Leadership Conference for Civil
and Human Rights, the Advancement Project, the ACLU, and the American Jewish Committee).
All of the briefs, as well as other pertinent filings, are available at the University of Texas’s
website: http://www.utexas.edu/vp/irla/Fisher-V-Texas.html.
Full List of Amicus Briefs Filed in Support of the University of Texas at Austin
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The United States of America
17 United States Senators
66 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives
The State of California
14 other states (CT, HI, IL, IA, MD, MA, MS, MT, NM, NY, NC, VT, WA, WV), the
District of Columbia, and the U. S. Virgin Islands
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A geographically and racially diverse group of 38 Texas state legislators
37 former high-ranking officers and civilian leaders of the U.S. Armed Forces
(including three former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—General Colin L.
Powell, Admiral Michael G. Mullen and General Henry H. Shelton)
57 Fortune 100 and other leading American businesses
(including Dell, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco Systems, American Express, General
Electric, Pfizer, Halliburton, Xerox, Procter & Gamble, Sprint Nextel, United
Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Intel, DuPont, Viacom, Shell Oil, and Wal-Mart)
11 small businesses and small business owners (e.g., Michael Steele, former Republican
National Committee Chair) and 11 small business associations (e.g., National Black
Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Small Disadvantaged Businesses,
Hispanic American Growers’ Association)
Teach for America
The Family of Heman Marion Sweatt
Sweatt was denied admission to the UT Law School solely because of his race
until the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in with its landmark 1950 ruling in Sweatt
v. Painter. Today, UT honors Sweatt’s legacy in many ways, none more so than
its commitment to creating a genuinely diverse student body.
10 leading public research universities
(e.g., University of Illinois, Indiana University, Ohio State University, University
of Michigan, Michigan State University)
President & Chancellors of the University of California
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
8 Catholic universities
(e.g., Fordham, Georgetown, and Notre Dame)
All Ivy League schools (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, Cornell,
Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania) and 6 additional private universities (Stanford,
University of Chicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and
Vanderbilt)
California Institute of Technology and 9 other private research universities
(e.g., Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Emory, Northwestern, Rice, Tulane)
Amherst College, Oberlin College, Wesleyan College, and 34 additional private colleges
and universities
Appalachian State University and 35 other public and private colleges and universities
(e.g., New York University, Pepperdine University, Texas Southern University,
University of Colorado Bolder, University of Connecticut, University of
Massachusetts, University of Wisconsin System, Washington State University)
Houston Community College System
Yale Law School Dean Robert Post and Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow
National League of Cities, Campus Compact, and 4 additional national organizations, as
well as 11 higher education and public sector leaders who share an interest in developing
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partnerships between higher education and the public sector in areas crucial to the
revitalization of metropolitan communities
16 major religious denominations and organizations
(e.g., the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church,
the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, the
American Baptist Churches, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the
General Synod of the United Church of Christ, the Progressive National Baptist
Convention, the National Council of the Churches of Christ, Esperanza, Catholics
in Alliance for the Common Good)
American Jewish Committee, Central Conference of American Rabbis, and Union for
Reform Judaism
Anti-Defamation League
Asian American Center for Advancing Justice and 74 additional Asian American and
Pacific Islander advocacy organizations, bar and business associations, academic
institutions, and student organizations
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 18 additional Asian American and
Pacific Islander organizations, and 52 higher education officials
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., the UT Black Student Alliance, and
the Black Ex-Students of Texas, Inc.
23 National Latino organizations
(including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
(MALDEF), LatinoJustice PRLDEF, National Council of La Raza)
444 prominent social science researchers from 42 states and 172 educational institutions
and research centers
11 empirical scholars challenging methodological flaws in the so-called “mismatch”
hypothesis that affirmative action is harmful to minority students and that, on average,
minority students admitted through affirmative action would be better off attending less
selective colleges
(including Guido Imbens, Professor at the Graduate School of Business at
Stanford University; Donald B. Rubin, Professor of Statistics at Harvard
University; Gary King, University Professor at Harvard University and Director
of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science; Richard A. Berk, Professor of
Statistics and Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania; and Daniel E. Ho,
Professor of Law at Stanford Law School)
95 experimental psychologists who study the phenomena of “stereotype threat”—the
pressure that people feel when they fear that their performance could confirm a negative
stereotype about their group, which manifests itself in anxiety and distraction that
interferes with intellectual functioning
13 social and organizational psychologists who study intergroup contact and the
physiological and/or psychological effects of a diverse environment
Dr. Robert D. Putnam, Harvard School of Government Professor and author of Bowling
Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
6 Constitutional law scholars and the Constitutional Accountability Center
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American Educational Research Association, the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, the American Sociological Association, and 5 additional
research associations
American Psychological Association
College Board, National School Boards Association, and 11 additional educational
organizations
American Council on Education, along with the Association of Catholic Colleges and
Universities, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, the Council for
Christian Colleges and Universities, the National Action Council for Minorities in
Engineering, Inc., the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and 34 other higher
education organizations
National Association of Basketball Coaches, Women’s Basketball Coaches Association,
Black Coaches & Administrators Organization, and 43 current and former basketball
coaches and administrators
(including Johnny Dawkins, head coach of the men’s basketball team at Stanford;
Tom Izzo, head coach of the men’s basketball team at Michigan State; and
Orlando “Tubby” Smith, head coach of the men’s basketball team at the
University of Minnesota)
Association of American Medical Colleges and 11 other healthcare education
organizations, 14 physician and health care provider member organizations (e.g., the
American Medical Association) and 3 medical student organizations, and a non-profit
dedicated to improving the health of underserved communities
Association of American Law Schools
Society of American Law Teachers
Law School Admission Council
National Education Association and 27 of its affiliated state education associations;
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and its
affiliated national unions (e.g., the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)); the
Service Employees International Union (SEIU); and People For the American Way
Foundation
American Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
Association of the Bar of the City of New York
Boston Bar Association, 10 additional bar associations, the City of Boston, EMC
Corporation, National Grid USA, and 24 law firms
Coalition of 4 bar associations of color
(National Bar Association, Hispanic National Bar Association, Asian Pacific
American Bar Association, and National Native American Bar Association)
United States Student Association, comprised of more than 4 million current college
students from diverse backgrounds
28 undergraduate and graduate student organizations of California, reflecting a broad
cross-section of students of all races and ethnicities
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14 former and recent UT student body presidents, who served during 1992-2012
35 distinguished UT alumni, including prominent leaders in business, industry and
government—all of whom graduated between 1948 and 1986
(e.g., Sara Martinez Tucker, former Under Secretary of Education (2006-2008);
James Mulva, former Chairman & CEO of ConocoPhillips (2004-2012) and
Phillips Petroleum (1999-2002); Charles W. Matthews, former Vice President and
General Counsel of Exxon Mobil (1995-2010); and Barbara Smith Conrad,
Mezzo-Soprano, New York Metropolitan Opera (1982-1989))
National Black Law Students Association, which has nearly 6,000 members, over 200
law school chapters, a growing pre-law division, and 6 international chapters or affiliates
Five student organizations that advocate for Latino and other students (e.g., the Council
for Minority Affairs at Texas A&M, Texas College Students for Diversity) as well as 167
Texas college students and graduates
NAACP, the Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches & Barbara Bader Aldave
(former UT Law School Professor, 1974-1989)
United Negro College Fund
American Civil Liberties Union
Coalition of Black Male Achievement Initiatives
Advancement Project
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Leadership Conference on Civil and
Human Rights, National Urban League, Children’s Defense Fund, YWCA USA, and 13
other organizations that have a common interest in promoting diversity in the nation’s
colleges and universities
National Women’s Law Center, American Association of University Women,
Association for Women in Science, Society of Women Engineers & 21 additional civil
rights organizations
Brennan Center for Law and Justice at NYU School of Law & the League of Women
Voters
Five human rights advocate groups
(e.g., Human Rights Advocates, Poverty & Race Research Action Council)
Howard University School of Law Civil Rights Clinic
6 former Commissioners and General Counsel of the Federal Communications
Commission and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council
Professor Kimberly West-Faulcon, Loyola Law School Los Angeles
American Association for Affirmative Action
Harvard Graduate School of Education Students for Diversity
Emory OUTLaw & Emory Latin American Law Students Association
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and United for Equality and Affirmative Action
Legal Defense Fund
David Boyle, an alumnus of the University of Michigan Law School during the period
leading up to Grutter v. Bollinger
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