Grutter v. BollingerGrutter v. Bollinger
The defendants appeal the district court‘s opinion and order enjoining its consideration of race as a factor in offering admission to the University of Michigan Law School. Having filed a notice of appeal, the defendants moved the district court for a stay of its injunction pending this appeal. The
The plaintiff argues in response that this court lacks appellate jurisdiction because the district court has yet to enter a judgment pursuant to
In support of its jurisdictional argument, the plaintiff relies upon Beukema‘s Petroleum Company v. Admiral Petroleum Company, 613 F.2d 626 (6th Cir. 1979). In that case, the defendant appealed a district court opinion directing the grant of injunctive relief and moved for a stay pending appeal. The injunction itself had not been entered, however, and this court remanded to permit the district court to do so and to also address the issue of a security for the injunction. There, the court‘s remand served a practical purpose. Such action was necessary because the district court had phrased its issuance of injunctive relief in the future tense. However, Beukema‘s Petroleum does not compel a conclusion that this court lacks jurisdiction in the instant case. The district court‘s decision clearly states the University “hereby is enjoined from using applicants’ race as a factor in its admissions decisions.” The effect is immediate, and the appeal is properly before this court.
In denying a stay, the district court quoted at length from Michigan Coalition of Radioactive Material Users, Inc. v. Griepentrog, 945 F.2d 150, 153-54 (6th Cir. 1991). There this court discussed the process of weighing the familiar four factors that govern a stay pending appeal. Those factors are 1) the likelihood that the party seeking the stay will prevail on the merits of the appeal; 2) the likelihood that the moving
The injunction now in place irreparably harms the University of Michigan and disrupts the selection of the 2001-2002 first-year law school class. The district court suggests that compliance with the injunction is a simple matter, and that the University is obliged to merely extend the remaining offers of admission without a consideration of the applicants’ race. However, attempts to comply with the district court‘s injunction require the University to make decisions that may be subject to challenge. To create a new admissions policy in compliance with the injunction and to determine how many offers must be extended to fill the new class will take time. As they take this time to perform these tasks, defendants argue, the final decisions on applicants will be delayed. As a result, applicants are likely to accept admissions at other schools, thus diminishing the University‘s ability to compete with other selective law schools for highly qualified applicants. This harm cannot be undone and therefore is irreparable.
Further, there can be no dispute that this appeal presents serious questions on the merits. The district court‘s reading of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978), diverges from other interpretations of the case, including that in Gratz v. Bollinger, No. 97-75231 (E.D. Mich.), now pending before this court on appeal. The challenge the defendants make to the district court‘s decision is more than sufficient to support a stay pending this appeal.
ENTERED BY ORDER OF THE COURT
/s/ Leonard Green
Clerk