When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in 2003 backing the use of race in college admissions, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Georgia took particular interest in the mechanics of the ruling.
At the time, both public universities were operating under federal-court orders prohibiting them from considering a student’s race in making admissions offers. With those decisions supplanted by the Supreme Court ruling, the institutions were free to return to race-conscious policies.