NYU School of Law illegally disfavors white men in law review selection, suit alleges
An Oct. 19 lawsuit alleges violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The suit involves a first-year law student at the New York University School of Law. Photo from Shutterstock.
A first-year law student at the New York University School of Law has filed a lawsuit alleging that race and sex preferences are illegally used to choose members of the law review.
The unnamed law student, a white heterosexual man, is represented by America First Legal, which says it fights “lawless executive actions and the radical left.”
Bloomberg Law, Reuters and Above the Law have stories; an Oct. 19 press release is here.
The Oct. 19 suit alleges violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination in programs receiving federal financial assistance, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bans discrimination in federally funded education programs.
The federal suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, cites Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
Before Students for Fair Admissions was decided in June, the NYU Law Review said it selected members this way, the suit says: Fifteen would be selected based on grades, 15 would be selected based on a writing competition, eight would be chosen based on a combination of grades and the writing competition, and 12 would be selected by the law review’s diversity committee.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, the law review “changed its website in an attempt to obscure the details of its membership selection process,” the suit says. But the website “makes clear that ‘diversity’ remains a prime consideration in the selection of members.”
Stephen Miller, a former Trump administration senior adviser, formed America First Legal in 2021 to act as a counterweight to the American Civil Liberties Union.
