Page:Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 579 U.S. (2016) (slip opinion).pdf/40

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from judicial review.

By accepting these amorphous goals as sufficient for UT to carry its burden, the majority violates decades of prece­dent rejecting blind deference to government officials defending “ ‘inherently suspect’ ” classifications. Miller, 515 U. S., at 904 (citing Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke, 438 U. S. 265, 291 (1978) (opinion of Powell, J.)); see also, e.g., Miller, supra, at 922 (“Our presumptive skepticism of all racial classifications . . . prohibits us . . . from accepting on its face the Justice Department’s conclusion” (citation omitted)); Croson, 488 U. S., at 500 (“[T]he mere recitation of a ‘benign’ or legitimate purpose for a racial classification is entitled to little or no weight”); id., at 501 (“The history of racial classifications in this country suggests that blind judicial deference to legislative or executive pronounce­ ments of necessity has no place in equal protection analy­sis”). Most troublingly, the majority’s uncritical deference to UT’s self-serving claims blatantly contradicts our deci­sion in the prior iteration of this very case, in which we faulted the Fifth Circuit for improperly “deferring to the University’s good faith in its use of racial classifications.” Fisher I, 570 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12). As we empha­sized just three years ago, our precedent “ma[kes] clear that it is for the courts, not for university administrators, to ensure that” an admissions process is narrowly tailored. Id., at ___ (slip op., at 10).

A court cannot ensure that an admissions process is narrowly tailored if it cannot pin down the goals that the process is designed to achieve. UT’s vague policy goals are “so broad and imprecise that they cannot withstand strict scrutiny.” Parents Involved, supra, at 785 (KENNEDY, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment).

Although UT’s primary argument is that it need not point to any interest more specific than “the educational