Sample feedback in favor of joining amicus

February 14, 2003

Many responses simply said I agree, or I approve. Here is a sampling:

"Absolutely, I think that the WI Bar should join an amicus brief on behalf of the University of Michigan. It is vitally important to preserve law schools' ability to develop appropriate and affirmative actions to ensure diversity within the practice. I only wish that I had the requisite expertise to assist."

"As a long time advocate for equal justice, I strongly support the decision of WISBAR to join an Amicus filing in the Grutter case. There is an incredibly low level of minority attorneys in general and in legal services in particular. Closing the door further will only exacerbate this problem."

"It is essential that the bar join in the amicus and support the University of Michigan. The University of Wisconsin Law School is a major source of members of the Wisconsin Bar and the Law School has a deep commitment to diversity and serving the public my turning out the most diverse group of legal professionals possible. The Law School is working hard to diversify the Wisconsin Bar--should Michigan not prevail, it would be a setback for Wisconsin's efforts to have a more diverse bar."

"I am a member of the State Bars of Wisconsin, Texas, Minnesota and California. I currently practice in Wisconsin. I am in favor of filing an amicus brief in favor of continuing to use race as a factor in admissions decisions to law schools. While I do not support quotas, I do support taking race into account, among all other factors. The fact remains that the legal profession is still not very diverse racially, and that the judicial system and the people it serves will benefit from greater diversity. One way to create that diversity is to look at the applicant's race, among other factors, in an attempt to admit a diverse student body. Peoples of different races, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds have different and valuable perspectives on justice, the law and the needs of the people. One group's viewpoints cannot substitute for another's. One group may be blind to a perspective nature to another group. Often, in our racially charged culture, that is due to race, and the experiences that go along with race. Until this is no longer the case in our country, I support affirmative action."

"Absolutely, join with the University of Michigan (Gad, as an Ohio State and Wisconsin graduate, I can't believe I just said that!) in supporting affirming the 6th Circuit decision. Diversity and pluralism in the legal profession are not only admirable objectives, they are essential. How best to achieve it should be left to the sound discretion of university boards and officials, acting within the parameters of the Bakke decision. Michigan's approach is one way to do it. The use of race is only one of many factors taken into consideration."

"Go forth and file. I applaud the Board of Governors... wish I were there... and encourage you whole heartedly to go forward with either an amicus or the cosignature onto someone else's amicus brief."

"The State Bar should absolutely file an amicus on behalf of the University of Michigan in support of retention of its affirmative action programs and affirming the constitutionality thereof. I am happy that the Board of Governors so responded to this crucially important issue. We should not sit back and watch our civil rights achievements and progress be rolled back 50-60 years, as some seem hell-bent on doing. As my late father often remarked, actions speak louder than words and the actions we are seeing from the current Administration in Washington are very troubling indeed."

"I feel the law school is entitled to utilize race as a factor in admissions should the law school seek to balance the races in school with the general racial population. For example if 10% of the Michigan population is black, I see no reason why the University should not include a race factor to try to insure that an incoming law class has approximately 10% blacks. This position assumes that there are sufficient numbers of qualified black candidates to include in the incoming class.

Likewise, I see no reason for a law school not to give a certain number of places in an incoming class to legacies, assuming the candidates from this group are otherwise qualified to be admitted."

"Join up with UM. If affirmative action is OK for Andover prep grads applying to Yale, I am not offended by a racial point system at Michigan."

"By all means, please file a friend of the court brief on behalf of the University of Michigan. I do not see the system being used by its law school as any more of a quota than the 'legacy process' that enabled our president to get into Yale."

"In response to the e-mail seeking input from the membership of the Wisconsin Bar, I strongly urge the Board of Governors to take the path it is considering, and join an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the University of Michigan in Grutter. Consideration of race as one of many factors in the admissions process helps ensure a diverse student body. UW, my alma mater, has been a leader on this issue. By joining an amicus brief in support, the Wisconsin Bar publicly voices its support for UW's policy, and adds its voice to many others urging the Supreme Court to decide correctly. Thanks for seeking input."

"I don't know if this is of any relevance or not but I thought it was somewhat interesting. On the day that I received your e-mail I recalled having recently received a newsletter/update from my Law School. On the back of the bulletin was a snapshot of a graduating class from, I believe, sometime in the early '70s (I have since thrown the mailing away and don't recall exactly). What I recall of the photo is that of the entire class, there were only two females. Although I may be wrong about this, I believe that for the past several years, females have constituted the majority of the graduating class.

I don't know the reason for the increasing number of female law school graduates. I would be interested to know if efforts were made at the admissions level to increase the numbers or if it simply reflects societal changes and an increasing number of female applicants. Whatever the reason, I believe that it is beyond dispute that the legal profession has greatly benefited from the increase of Female attorneys.

Although I am no constitutional law scholar, it would seem to me that if an objective is identified as positive (i.e. to increase the number of minority attorneys), we as a society should be in a position to try to effect that objective. To simply sit back and see how things unfold, allowing forces beyond our control to shape the future of our legal profession, seems to me to be absurd and to ignore the fact that we are capable of identifying issues and acting logically upon them to try to effect positive results.

I support the Bars efforts to support the admissions policies of the University of Michigan Law School. If we feel strongly that the goal of increasing the number of minority attorneys is the right thing to do, then we must make reasonable efforts to effect that goal. I do not feel confident to any degree that other forces, beyond our control and which we do not fully understand, will naturally effect the objective. In fact, I fear that if left to its natural course, we will in fact see a decline in minority attorneys.

Just my thoughts."

"I am writing to encourage the Wisconsin State Bar to submit an amicus brief in support of Michigan's affirmative action program.

I am a white, lifetime resident of Wisconsin. As a graduate of the UW Law School, I believe that minority recruitment efforts, and the resulting presence of people of color, greatly enriched my legal education. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to interact with non-white students and faculty.

Obviously I cannot intelligently address all of the reasons I favor affirmative action in a short email. However, based on my extensive examination of this issue, I believe Michigan's program is logically, legally, and ethically defensible and should be zealously supported; if the program is flawed, it is only flawed in that it does not go far enough in creating opportunities for non-whites. I believe the Court has already done great damage in this area in the last decade, and I will be deeply saddened if we allow the Court to eliminate affirmative action without registering a dissenting view."

"I believe that the Wisconsin State Bar should submit an amicus brief concerning the University of Michigan's admission process.

As I understand it, the University does not use a quota system, as the Administration has misleadingly led the public to believe. Rather, it has a "point system" whereby points are given for various factors. I find nothing wrong with this and leave it to experts in the equal rights field to explain why that is permissible. Diversity should help contribute to the exchange of different ideas and experiences, an exchange which is essential to any type of education.

Admitting students merely on the basis of grade points and admission test scores seems incredibly stupid and illogical to me, and I am someone who attended the most competitive of colleges and law schools and scored high on those tests. Let me illustrate my point by a question. How many lawyers do you know who scored high on tests while in school, but who are mediocre as practitioners? The sad fact is that there are many such persons, we don't need to unnecessarily add to their ranks. My point is that an ability to test well may be important, but is far from being the sole factor in determining who will be a successful graduate."

"As both a Wisconsin native practicing in Wisconsin, and an Alum of the University of Michigan Law School, I strongly support the Wisconsin Bar's effort to support diversity in our country's law schools. My three years at Michigan were among the best years of my admittedly young life. My experience at Michigan would not have been as rewarding without the diversity of experiences and view points made possible by the school's diversity policy. I believe an amicus brief from the Wisconsin Bar will go a long way to show that non-minority attorneys want and need diversity. And should the policy at U of M tumble, I hope that the Wisconsin Bar will continue to assist America's law schools develop new methods to support diversity."