DeFunis v. Odegaard

Facts of the Case

DeFunis arose when Marco DeFunis, Jr., a White Jewish student of Spanish-Portuguese descent, applied for admission to the state-operated law school at the University of Washington in 1971. While the law school received around 1,600 applications, admission officials chose to limit admissions to 150 students.

During the time in which the plaintiff applied to the law school, its admissions committee calculated all applicants' predicted first-year averages (PFYAs) using their scores on the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) as well as their junior- and senior-year grade point averages from undergraduate school. The admissions committee assigned less weight to the minority students' PFYA scores and reviewed their applications separately from those of other applicants. Further, the admissions committee accepted minority students whose PFYA scores were lower than those of their White counterparts. Admittedly, the committee did not establish quotas; it sought the inclusion of a reasonable number of minority students.

At the time when the plaintiff's application was under review, 37 minority students were admitted. Of these, 36 had PFYA scores below the plaintiff's, and 30 had scores that were below the minimal threshold needed to meet the law school's admission requirements. Of the 37, only 18 enrolled in the law school. Forty-eight nonminorities were admitted, who also had PFYA scores below the plaintiff. Another 23 of these were veterans, and 25 were admitted presumably for other factors despite their low PFYA scores.

Initially, the plaintiff was placed on a waiting list and subsequently notified that he was denied admissions to the law school. Consequently, the plaintiff filed a suit against the law school claiming that its admissions policy violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. A state trial court agreed with the plaintiff and ordered officials to admit him in the fall of 1971. However, after the plaintiff started his studies, the Supreme Court of Washington reversed in favor of the law school, explaining that its affirmative action program was a constitutionally permissible admissions tool [Page 118]justified by several state interests. The court found that the law school's affirmative action program served the state's interest in helping to diversify public education. The court thought that the law school's affirmative action policy would enable officials to attain a racially diverse student body while also helping to alleviate the shortage of minority attorneys, prosecutors, judges, and public officials.

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