Dear Asian-American Community Leaders:
Thanks to the overwhelming support from the Asian-American community, Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE) represented 269 Asian-American organizations and filed an updated Amicus Brief with the United States District Court in Boston on January 8, 2019, to continue to show support to the plaintiff (Students for Fair Admissions, SFFA) in its lawsuit against Harvard. Unfortunately, the Federal District Court decision in favor of Harvard was issued by Judge Allison D. Burroughs on October 1, 2019, disregarding the overwhelming trial evidence (10/15/18-11/04/18) and the post-trial hearing.
We must renew our firm support of SFFA and its ongoing legal battle to hold Harvard accountable! Since the ruling, SFFA promptly submitted a notice of appeal to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals on October 4, 2019 and requested a briefing schedule for the appeal on January 8, 2020. To continue to assist SFFA, we are filing a new Amicus Brief to include new arguments. After its completion, we plan to send you the Amicus Brief for your review in the second week of February.
The key messages of this new Amicus Brief are:
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This case is of particular importance because Harvard provides a model for discrimination that is emulated throughout higher education in the U.S.
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The District Court disregarded overwhelming evidence that Harvard imposes de facto racial quotas, and maintains the quota for Asian Americans by assigning them lower personal scores.
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The District Court failed to apply constitutionally mandated “hostile scrutiny” to Harvard’s admission program.
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The injury caused by Harvard’s discrimination against Asian-American students falls heaviest on Asian-American children. 5.
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Harvard is today using the same repellant pretext historically used to justify discrimination against Asian Americans.
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The Ho Case and other present-day battles against discrimination in California, New York City and Washington State prove that our struggles as a community against racial discrimination are ongoing and significant.
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This case illustrates why there should be no compromises in examining use of race by schools.
The stakes are very high for the Asian-American community because many selective colleges in the U.S. are using Harvard’s admission model to discriminate against our children. We must win this case! Hereby, we call on all officially registered Asian-American organizations to join us by co-signing this important Amicus Brief, the purpose of which is to let the Asian-American voice be heard during SFFA’s appeal process. (If your organization has already signed up our January 2019 Amicus Brief, you may either fill out the form again or send an email to [email protected] to confirm your continuous participation of this endeavor).
Since the deadline to submit the document with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is February 25, 2020, please take immediate action to fill out the sign-up form. Millions of Asian-American children count on your support!
Please fill out the form to co-sign the Amicus Brief: