The Chronicle of Higher Ed has published a piece by Richard Kahlenberg, “Waiting on Fisher v. Texas.” Kahlenberg is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation.

Fisher v. Texas is the first federal litigation challenging the use of race in university admissions since the Supreme Court’s 2003 decision upholding the University of Michigan Law School’s race-conscious admissions process in Grutter v. Bollinger.

A decision on whether the Supreme Court will hear the case is expected after the Court returns from winter break. Kahlenberg discusses recent opinions by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and the New York Times urging the Court not to hear the case. Kahlenberg notes however, that Anthony Kennedy, as the new swing justice on the court, may well be opposed to overturning the Grutter decision. Kahlenberg surmises Kennedy “is more likely to suggest that universities be pressed very hard to come up with race-neutral alternatives to affirmative action before resorting to the use of race, a requirement that is technically part of the Grutter decision but was not enforced very vigorously by the Grutter court.”

However, Kahlenberg ends his article noting that given the current make-up of the Court, it may difficult for them to turn down hearing the case. Read Kahlenberg’s entire piece in the Chronicle.