House members back Univ. of Michigan in affirmative action case

Jet, March 3, 2003

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) recently filed a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the University of Michigan's admissions' program, which uses race as a factor.

Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, was joined by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), Jim Clyburn, vice-chair of the Democratic Caucus, and the chairs of the Congressional Hispanic and Congressional Asian-Pacific American Caucuses during a news conference concerning the brief.

Cummings stated, "If the Court rules, as we believe that it will, the Court's message win be our message of national unity and strength." A spokeswoman for Conyers said nearly 110 House members had signed on in favor of the brief that argues Michigan's policy is constitutional.

President Bush said last month that he supports diversity in higher education, but that Michigan's program "unfairly rewards or penalizes students based solely on their race." The Bush administration says the policy is skewed toward minorities and filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to rule against it.

Michigan's admissions policies have been under fire since 1997 when two Whites denied admission to its undergraduate school, and a third denied admission to its law school, sued the university. Each claimed they were passed over for less-qualified minority students.

Civil rights leaders decried Bush's statements as a politically misguided effort to dismantle college admissions programs, and undermine civil rights. At stake is whether the program violates the U.S. Constitution (Feb. 3, 2003).

The Supreme Court has scheduled back-to-back arguments on the two lawsuits for April 1.