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Spencer Fane Team Discusses Fate of Collegiate Affirmative Action in Tennessee Bar Journal

September 18, 2023

Spencer Fane attorneys Bethany Vanhooser, Sam Jackson, and Sara Naylor authored an article recently published in the Tennessee Bar Journal, a Tennessee Bar Association publication.

Their piece, Collegiate Affirmative Action Programs Restricted by SCOTUS Decision, originally appeared as a firm blog post and focuses on the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 29 ruling that race-based affirmative action programs are unconstitutional. In addition to discussing the history of affirmative action in the Supreme Court and outlining the details of this recent decision, the team also provided predictions and key takeaways.

Notably, they shared that “educational institutions can likely still consider race in the context of how a student’s race has affected a prospective student’s life if a student ties it to the student’s character or attributes, essentially shifting the onus to the student to articulate how race impacted their life.”

At Spencer Fane, Bethany assists her clients in resolving and managing critical litigation matters, and her civil and business litigation practice focuses on labor and employment. Sam provides proactive legal counsel to school boards and business management leaders in human resources counseling, employment litigation, and traditional labor law. Sara utilizes valuable experience to advise clients in areas of education law as well as labor and employment matters.

Read the full article here.