When the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on July 15 that the University of Texas at Austin can continue to use race as a factor in admissions in spite of a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering greater scrutiny of the university’s affirmative-action program, Allan Van Fleet stood among those cheering.
When Fisher v. University of Texas, Austin was pending before the high court, Van Fleet had drafted and filed an amicus brief on behalf of the family of Heman Marion Sweatt, which supported the school in the Fisher case. Sweatt was the first African-American to attend the UT School of Law and did so by winning a 1950 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of his right to do so, in spite of UT administrators’ objections to his admission because of his race. Van Fleet, a partner in the Houston office of McDermott Will & Emery, answered a few questions through an email inquiry about the significance of this week’s ruling. The responses have been edited for length and style.
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