Washington

National and local civil rights groups are hoping to accomplish in Michigan what Texas officials failed to do during Hopwood v. Texas -- that is, prevent the restriction of educational opportunities for Black and Latino students.

On February 5, the Detroit-based Citizens for Affirmative Action's Preservation (CAAP) and a coalition of national civil rights organizations filed a motion in federal court on behalf of seventeen African American and Latino high school students to allow them to join the University of Michigan and its administrators as defendants in a reverse discrimination lawsuit.

"The question is whether [public universities] can defend affirmative action in the most vigorous way, given the political pressures they face," declared civil rights attorney Ted Shaw at a recent news briefing in Washington, D.C.

The seventeen minority students are seeking to become defendants "because the suit directly threatens their access to their State's flagship public institution of higher education and...may diminish their access to colleges and universities throughout the state of Michigan," according to the motion filed last month.

"I think [the motion to intervene] puts a face on the Black and Latino students who are affected by [the anti-affirmative action suit]." said Pat Mendoza, regional director of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The motion to intervene in the Michigan case marks a strategic move by members of the civil rights community. It will allow them to argue that the lawsuit represents a grave threat to educational access for Black and Latino students.

National and state civil right organizations representing the seventeen students include the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU Fund of Michigan, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Learning From the Past

When lawyers for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund attempted to intervene on behalf of Black students in the Hopwood v. Texas anti-affirmative action lawsuit, federal courts denied repeated motions and appeals, ruling that the university was sufficiently representing the students' interests.