Affirmative Action in Law School Admissions: The Hopwood Case

Cheryl Hopwood did not come from an affluent family. Raised by a single mother, she worked her way through high school, community college, and California State University at Sacramento. She then moved to Texas and applied to the University of Texas Law School, the best law school in the state and one of the leading law schools in the country. Although Hopwood had compiled a grade point average of 3.8 and did reasonably well on the Law School Admission Test (scoring in the 83rd percentile), she was not admitted.

Hopwood, who is white, thought her rejection was unfair. Some of the applicants admitted instead of her were African American and Mexican American students who had lower college grades and test scores than she did. The school had an affirmative action policy that gave preference to minority applicants. In fact, all of the minority students with grades and test scores comparable to Hopwood's had been admitted.

Hopwood took her case to federal court, arguing that she was a victim of discrimination. The university replied that part of the law school's mission was to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of the Texas legal profession, including not only law firms but also the state legislature and the courts.

"Law in a civil society depends overwhelmingly on the willingness of society to accept its judgment," said Michael Sharlot, dean of the law school. "It becomes harder to achieve that if we don't see members of all groups playing roles in the administration of justice."

In Texas, African Americans and Mexican Americans comprise 40 percent of the population but a far smaller proportion of the legal profession. When Hopwood applied, the University of Texas Law School used an affirmative action admissions policy that aimed at enrolling about 15 percent of the class from among minority applicants.

In order to achieve this goal, the university set lower admissions standards for minority applicants than for nonminority applicants. University officials argued, however, that all of the minority students who were admitted were qualified to do the work, and almost all succeeded in graduating from law school and passing the bar exam. But that was small comfort to Hopwood, who believed she had been treated unfairly and should have been admitted.