This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Faculty, Alumni, & Students Opposed to Racial Preferences, represented by America First Legal, filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Michigan Law Review, several of its editors and the University of Michigan as a whole, alleging discrimination in how MLR selects its members and articles. According to the lawsuit, 40% of Michigan Law Review applicants are chosen purely on test scores without consideration of personal identity. The rest, however, are chosen through a holistic process which includes a personal statement, which FARSOP claims is vulnerable to bias.
“The remaining 60% of the new student members are chosen through a process that the Law Review calls “holistic review,” in which the Law Review considers an applicant’s mini-note, bluebook exercise, note proposal, first-year grades, and personal statement,” the lawsuit reads. “But there is no fixed or announced formula for weighing these five different factors, or for deciding which students will be accepted through this “holistic review” process. Instead, the members of the Law Review’s “Holistic Review Committee” have unfettered discretion to decide how these five factors will be weighted for each particular applicant…”
The lawsuit alleges that MLR’s holistic review process for selecting editors and articles is discriminatory against heterosexual, white and Asian applicants, who FASORP says are more qualified than some of the minority applicants chosen over them.
“When the members of the Holistic Review Committee grade the personal statements and decide which applicants to accept, they award illegal and discriminatory preferences to applicants who indicate in their personal statements that they are female, members of an “underrepresented” (i.e., nonAsian) racial minority, homosexual, or transgender,” the lawsuit reads. “Applicants from these preferred demographics receive higher scores on the personal statement than they would have received had they chosen not to flag these demographic characteristics in their personal statements. Applicants from these preferred demographics are also awarded positions on the Law Review over heterosexual and non-transgender white men who have better grades and better scores on the components of the Law Review’s writing competition.”
The lawsuit also claims students who have or have had conservative affiliations, such as members of The Federalist Society, are excluded from MLR’s Holistic Review Committee in order to prevent information regarding selection processes from being released to the public.
“The Law Review’s use of race and sex preferences in the grading of personal statements and the holistic-review process is a flagrant violation of state and federal anti-discrimination law,” the lawsuit reads. “Students who are believed to be conservative or members of organizations such as the Federalist Society are never chosen to serve on the Holistic Review Committee and are never chosen for editorial positions that entail a place on the Holistic Review Committee, because these students would resist or expose the Law Review’s use of illegal race and sex preferences when selecting student members.”
FASORP is bringing the case on behalf of three unnamed white heterosexual male law professors who have had their articles rejected from MLR and an unnamed white male law student who has applied to become a member of MLR. This is not FASORP’s first lawsuit against review journals at universities. FASORP also has a pending lawsuit against the Northwestern University Law Review regarding discrimination in selection processes.
Gene Hamilton, president of America First Legal, wrote in a press release this lawsuit is a part of the AFL’s fight to end racial discrimination in academia.
“Despite clear law on point prohibiting such discrimination and numerous Supreme Court decisions, racial discrimination continues to be pervasive throughout academia,” Hamilton said. “AFL will not tolerate this unconstitutional discrimination at the University of Michigan and is taking decisive action to restore meritocracy and protect American values.”
Summer News Editor Alyssa Tisch can be reached at tischaa@umich.edu.
