Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College

261 F. Supp. 3d 99
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJune 2, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. 14-cv-14176-ADB
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 261 F. Supp. 3d 99 (Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 261 F. Supp. 3d 99 (D. Mass. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS

ALLISON D. BURROUGHS, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE

I. INTRODUCTION

In this action, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (“SFFA”) alleges that Harvard College (“Harvard”) employs racially and ethnically discriminatory policies and procedures in. administering its undergraduate admissions program, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Presently pending before this Court is Harvard’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), [ECF No. 187], Harvard filed the instant motion on September 23, 2016, and SFFA opposed it on October 21, 2016 [ECF No. 204],1 For the reasons stated below, the motion is DENIED.

II. RELEVANT BACKGROUND2

SFFA filed its Complaint with this Court on November 17, 2014 [ECF No. 1], and Harvard filed its Answer on February 18, 2015 [ECF No. 17]. SFFA’s Complaint sets forth two types of allegations. First, [103]*103SFFA contends that the general manner in which Harvard considers race in its undergraduate admissions program violates the Equal Protection Clause. As opposed to using race as a mere “plus” factor in admissions decisions, SFFA claims that Harvard engages in prohibited “racial balancing.” Second, SFFA alleges that Harvard’s policies invidiously discriminate against Asian-American applicants in particular because, by admitting only a limited number of Asian-American applicants each year, Harvard, in effect, forces Asian-American applicants to compete against each other -for those spots. Consequently, a large number of otherwise highly-qualified Asian-American applicants are allegedly denied admission to Harvard on the basis of their race or ethnicity.

SFFA is an Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) organization whose claimed mission is to defend human and civil rights secured by law, including equal protection rights, through litigation or other lawful means.3 SFFA brings this action on behalf of its members. Its membership is composed of a coalition of applicants and prospective applicants to institutions of higher education, along with their parents and other individuals, including at least one Asian-American student member who applied for and was denied admission to Harvard’s 2014 entering class (the “Applicant”). Complaint ¶¶ 12-24.4 According to SFFA, this Applicant intends to transfer to Harvard when the school stops using its race-based discrimination admissions policy.

The Complaint requests the following relief: declaratory judgments, that Harvard’s admissions policies and procedures violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act . of 1964 and that any use of race or ethnicity in the educational setting violates the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI; permanent injunctions prohibiting Harvard from using race as a factor in future undergraduate admission decisions ■ and requiring it to make its admissions decisions in a race-blind manner; attorneys’ fees and costs; and any other relief this Court finds appropriate.

III. LEGAL STANDARD

Because ■ Harvard’s Rule 12(b)(1) challenge to SFFA’s constitutional standing implicates this Court’s subject matter jurisdiction, see P.R. Tel. Co. v. T-Mobile P.R. LLC, 678 F.3d 49, 57 (1st Cir. 2012), the Court is not restricted to the four corners of the Complaint and “may consider whatever evidence has been submitted, such as the depositions and exhibits,” Aversa v. United States, 99 F.3d 1200, 1210 (1st Cir. 1996); see also Torres-Negron v. J & N Records, LLC, 504 F.3d. 151, 163 (1st Cir. 2007); Katz v. Pershing, LLC, 806 F.Supp.2d 452, 456 (D. Mass. 2011), aff'd, 672 F.3d 64 (1st Cir. 2012) (“A court is permitted to, look beyond the pleadings to determine jurisdiction on a 12(b)(1) motion, hence the formality of converting the motion to one for summary judgment need not be observed.”).

IV. DISCUSSION

. A. Associationai Standing

The Constitution gives the judiciary power to hear only “Cases” and “Controversies.” U.S. Const, art. Ill, § 2, [104]*104cl. 1. The Supreme Court has interpreted this requirement to mean that courts may decide only “cases and controversies of the sort traditionally amenable to, and resolved by, the judicial process.” Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 102, 118- S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998). A plaintiff’s standing to sue is “part of the common understanding of what it takes to make a justiciable case.” Id. Therefore, “the absence of standing sounds the death knell for a case.” Microsystems Software, Inc. v. Scandinavia Online AB, 226 F.3d 35, 39 (1st Cir. 2000). The standing determination is “claim-specific,” meaning that an individual plaintiff “must have standing to bring each and every claim that [he or] she asserts.” Katz v. Pershing, LLC, 672 F.3d 64, 71 (1st Cir. 2012).

Article III standing requires that three conditions be satisfied. “First and foremost, there must be alleged (and ultimately proved) an ‘injury in fact.’ ” Steel Co., 523 U.S. at 103, 118 S.Ct. 1003 (quoting Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149, 155, 110 S.Ct. 1717, 109 L.Ed.2d 135 (1990)). This injury “must be concrete in both a qualitative and temporal sense,”, “distinct and palpable” as opposed to “abstract,” and “actual or imminent” as opposed to “conjectural or hypothetical.” Whitmore, 495 U.S. at 155, 110 S.Ct. 1717 (internal quotations and citations omitted). Second, standing requires causation, defined as a “fairly traceable connection between the plaintiffs injury and the complained-of conduct of the defendant.” Steel Co., 523 U.S. at 103, 118 S.Ct. 1003. Finally, standing requires “redressability—a likelihood that the requested relief will redress the alleged injury.” Id.

“[A]n association may have standing solely as the representative of its members even in the absence of injury to itself, in certain circumstances.” Camel Hair & Cashmere Inst. of Am., Inc. v. Associated Dry Goods Corp., 799 F.2d 6, 10 (1st Cir. 1986) (citing Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 511, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975)). Specifically, “an association has standing to bring suit on behalf of its members when: (a) its members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right; (b) the interests it seeks to protect are germane to the- organization’s purpose; and (c) neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of individual members in the lawsuit.” Hunt v. Wash. State Apple Advert.

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261 F. Supp. 3d 99, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/students-for-fair-admissions-inc-v-president-fellows-of-harvard-mad-2017.