This paper looks at the current case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin in conjunction with previous affirmative action cases. I question what the Court’s decision for the Fisher case will be and what this means for future affirmative action policies in higher education. I pose the question: Is affirmative action still needed today? I use court documents from the current Fisher case and literature on previous cases to help answer this question.
I discussed the Court Justices upbringing and how these will affect their decisions in this case. I examined previous affirmative action cases that some of the Justices worked on and what their decisions were. I considered these decisions along with interviews from journalists and opinions to arrive at my final conclusions. I contend that with an absent liberal Justice and strong voices of opposition against affirmative action by other Justices, the future of affirmative action policies existence is not certain.
","abstract_html":"<p>This paper looks at the current case of <em>Fisher v. University of Texas</em> at Austin in conjunction with previous affirmative action cases. I question what the Court’s decision for the <em>Fisher</em> case will be and what this means for future affirmative action policies in higher education. I pose the question: Is affirmative action still needed today? I use court documents from the current <em>Fisher</em> case and literature on previous cases to help answer this question.</p> <p>I discussed the Court Justices upbringing and how these will affect their decisions in this case. I examined previous affirmative action cases that some of the Justices worked on and what their decisions were. I considered these decisions along with interviews from journalists and opinions to arrive at my final conclusions. I contend that with an absent liberal Justice and strong voices of opposition against affirmative action by other Justices, the future of affirmative action policies existence is not certain.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Austin, Whitney"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Public Administration (MPA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Political Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Andrew Ewoh"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:42:53Z","subjects":["affirmative action","college admissions","constitutionality","education policy","education law"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/etd/569","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Andrew Ewoh"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Austin, Whitney"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-05-22T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Political Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Public Administration (MPA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["affirmative action","college admissions","constitutionality","education policy","education law"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/etd/569"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This paper looks at the current case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin in conjunction with previous affirmative action cases. I question what the Court’s decision for the Fisher case will be and what this means for future affirmative action policies in higher education. I pose the question: Is affirmative action still needed today? I use court documents from the current Fisher case and literature on previous cases to help answer this question.
I discussed the Court Justices upbringing and how these will affect their decisions in this case. I examined previous affirmative action cases that some of the Justices worked on and what their decisions were. I considered these decisions along with interviews from journalists and opinions to arrive at my final conclusions. I contend that with an absent liberal Justice and strong voices of opposition against affirmative action by other Justices, the future of affirmative action policies existence is not certain.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["An Exploratory Analysis of Affirmative Action in Admission Processes"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Andrew Ewoh"],"dc:creator":["Austin, Whitney"],"dc:date.available":["2013-05-22T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This paper looks at the current case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin in conjunction with previous affirmative action cases. I question what the Court’s decision for the Fisher case will be and what this means for future affirmative action policies in higher education. I pose the question: Is affirmative action still needed today? I use court documents from the current Fisher case and literature on previous cases to help answer this question.
I discussed the Court Justices upbringing and how these will affect their decisions in this case. I examined previous affirmative action cases that some of the Justices worked on and what their decisions were. I considered these decisions along with interviews from journalists and opinions to arrive at my final conclusions. I contend that with an absent liberal Justice and strong voices of opposition against affirmative action by other Justices, the future of affirmative action policies existence is not certain.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/etd/569"],"dc:subject":["affirmative action","college admissions","constitutionality","education policy","education law"],"dc:title":["An Exploratory Analysis of Affirmative Action in Admission Processes"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Political Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Public Administration (MPA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:42:53Z"}