Page:Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.pdf/167

28 Fisher; or, alternatively, (2) whether UNC’s admissions program is narrowly tailored, and (3) whether Harvard’s admissions program is narrowly tailored. See Brief for Petitioner in No. 20–1199, p. i; Brief for Respondent in No. 20–1199, p. i; Brief for University Respondents in No. 21–707, p. i. Answering the last two questions, which call for application of settled law to the facts of these cases, is simple: Deferring to the lower courts’ careful findings of fact and credibility determinations, Harvard’s and UNC’s policies are narrowly tailored.

As to narrow tailoring, the only issue SFFA raises in the UNC case is that the university cannot use race in its admissions process because race-neutral alternatives would promote UNC’s diversity objectives. That issue is so easily resolved in favor of UNC that SFFA devoted only three pages to it at the end of its 87-page brief. Brief for Petitioner 83–86.

The use of race is narrowly tailored unless “workable” and “available” race-neutral approaches exist, meaning race-neutral alternatives promote the institution’s diversity goals and do so at “ ‘tolerable administrative expense.’ ” Fisher I, 570 U. S., at 312 (quoting Wygant v. Jackson Bd. of Ed., 476 U. S. 267, 280, n. 6 (1986) (plurality opinion)). Narrow tailoring does not mean perfect tailoring. The Court’s precedents make clear that “[n]arrow tailoring does not require exhaustion of every conceivable race-neutral alternative.” Grutter, 539 U. S., at 339. “Nor does it require a university to choose between maintaining a reputation for excellence or fulfilling a commitment to provide educational opportunities to members of all racial groups.” Ibid.

As the District Court found after considering extensive expert testimony, SFFA’s proposed race-neutral alternatives do not meet those criteria. UNC, 567 F. Supp. 3d,