Federal Judge Bernard Friedman on March 31 set a new date of Jan. 15, 2001, for the lawsuit challenging the admissions practices of the Law School. The suit had been scheduled for trial Aug. 28 in federal court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit.
The new schedule calls for all motions to be filed by Oct. 15. Discovery closes Aug. 31.
The delay will give intervenors in the case more time to develop their case. In mid-March, Friedman had denied a request from the intervenors for a delay and the group filed a request for reconsideration about a week later.
A similar case against LS&A is to be heard in September or October by federal Judge Patrick Duggan. The final pre-trial conference for that case is set for Sept. 13.
In both cases, the plaintiffs charge that the University’s admissions practices unlawfully discriminate against them because the practices take race and ethnicity into account as a “plus” factor among the many factors in the admissions process.
The University’s position is that the consideration of race in such a process is legal under the U.S. Constitution, as confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1978 in the Bakke case.
For more information on the suits, visit the Web at www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/.
