Katuria Smith, Angela Rock, and Michael Pyle (collectively Smith) brought this action on behalf of themselves and a class of Caucasians and others who were denied admission to the University of Washington Law School. The action was brought against the law school and members of its administration and faculty
BACKGROUND
On July 1, 1997, Smith filed suit against the Law School alleging illegal discrimination against Caucasians and others on the basis of their race, which resulted in their being denied admission to the law school. From at least 1994 to December of 1998, the Law School did use race as a criterion in its admissions process so that it could assure the enrollment of a diverse student body. There is no dispute about that. Katuria Smith was denied admission in 1994, but she attended another law school and obtained her law degree there. Angela Rock was denied admission in 1995. She, too, attended another law school and obtained her law degree. Michael Pyle
On April 22, 1998, the district court certified a Rule 23(b)(2) class for injunctive and declaratory relief only.
The Law School then moved to dismiss the individual and class actions, on the basis that the claims were moot as the result of the passage of 1-200 because it prohibits the Law School from discriminating in the manner that Smith complained of. Smith opposed t^ie motion to dismiss and argued that the claims were not moot because of the uncertainty of how the Law School would actually interpret and apply 1-200, but the Law School pointed out that, pursuant to a directive from the president of the University of Washington, it had eliminated the use of race as a criterion in its admission process. The new admission policy did retain a diversity clause, which stated that “[ijmportant academic objectives are furthered by ... students ... from diverse background^]” and then went on to set out a nonexhaustive list of factors as indicative of diversity including “persevering or personal adversity or other social hardships; having lived in a foreign country or spoken a language other than- English at home; career goals ...; employment history; educational background ...; evidence of and potential for leadership ...; special talents ...; geographic diversity or unique life experiences.” Race itself, along with color and national origin, were excluded from the list. On February 10, 1999, the district court issued an order granting the motion to dismiss the individual and class claims for injunctive and declaratory relief as moot due to the passage of 1-200, and decertifying the Rule 23(b)(2) class.
On February 12, 1999, the district court issued another order in which it denied Smith’s motion for partial summary judgment. However, on February 22, 1999, it also made the necessary findings under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) and went on to designate “two controlling question[s] of law as to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion: (1) whether educational diversity is a compelling governmental interest that meets the requirement of ‘strict scrutiny’ for race-conscious measures under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and (2) whether race may be considered only for remedial purposes.” Smith then sought to appeal both the order of February 10, 1999, and the order of February 12, 1999. We granted the applications.
JURISDICTION AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW
Pursuant to Rule 23(f) and our order which granted permission to appeal, we have jurisdiction over Smith’s appeal from the order decertifying the Rule 23(b)(2) class. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) and our order which granted permission to appeal, we have jurisdiction over Smith’s
“We review a district court’s determination of mootness de novo.” Knight v. Kenai Peninsula Borough Sch. Dist.,
DISCUSSION
Smith asks us to reverse the district court on three bases. First, the district court’s determination that the Rule 23(b)(2) class for prospective relief should be decertified is attacked. Similarly, Smith attacks the district court’s failure to certify a Rule 23(b)(3) damages class action. Finally, Smith asserts that the district court improperly failed to grant a partial summary judgment because it should have determined that the Law School was prohibited from using a race-conscious admissions policy under the circumstances. We will discuss the first and the last of these issues on the merits, but reject the second because it is not properly before us.
A. Class Certification; Mootness
Smith first attacks the district court’s determination that once 1-200 was passed and its force was recognized by the Law School, there was no reason to rule on the claims for declaratory and injunctive relief. We agree with the district court. That is, regardless of what the Law School might have thought that the United States Constitution allowed, after initiative measure 1-200 was passed state law directed that “in the operation of ... public education” the state was prohibited from discriminating or offering preferential treatment to “any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.” That, as the district court indicated, made it unnecessary to enjoin the Law School from operating a preferential program, and made it equally unnecessary to declare that it could not do so. Moreover, there was no need to continue with a class action for that purpose. In a word, that part of the controversy had become moot.
Mootness is, of course, simply one facet of justiciability. See Flast v. Cohen,
That is the short answer, but that alone will not do because this is an area rife with exceptions, qualifications, even quibbles. So we must go on. It is true, as Smith
It is fair to' say, nonetheless, that courts are particularly cautious when a case has become moot because the defendant has voluntarily ceased to pursue the challenged course of action. Were it otherwise, 'the defendant’s “[m]ere voluntary cessation” would compel the courts to “leave ‘[t]he defendant ... free to return to his old ways.’ ” United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Exp. Ass’n,
We, too, have recognized that the volun-tariness of the cessation is a factor, rather than a clincher. As we explained in Armster v. United States Dist. Ct.,
We are satisfied that when these approaches are applied to this case, even if the Law School’s change of policy has some tinge of voluntary cessation, as Smith contends, the matter is still moot. The only truly voluntary aspect is that the Law School did stop using race, ethnicity, and national origin as factors once 1-200 was passed and the directive from the president of the University was issued. The Law School did not wait for litigation or internal University discipline before doing that. To the extent that can be called voluntary, it is still highly unlikely that the Law School’s old practices will be recrudescent under the current state of the law in Washington.
Moreover, considering the real reason for the change, it is rather apparent that it was máde under the lash of 1-200 and not because of the prodding effect of this litigation. That tends to indicate that the change was not really voluntary at all. See Sze v. INS,
As we declared in Noatak,
There can be no real expectation that the alleged wrongs will recur now that the people of the state have prohibited them. Nor can we address Smith’s fear of “the possibility that the state’s allegedly discriminatory policy will manifest itself under the new statute. Federal courts are not authorized to address such theoretical possibilities.” Noatak,
But, says Smith, the Law School insisted, and still insists, that its race-conscious selection program was perfectly legal before the people of the State of Washington declared otherwise. Assuming that is so, it does not suggest that the Law School is ready to violate state law. It has not done so as far as this record shows, and we will not assume that it will. Similarly, we will not assume that it will act in bad faith. See Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke,
In short, the request for prospective relief is moot. In so stating, we have not overlooked Smith’s assertion that declaratory relief is sometimes proper, even when injunctive relief is not. We recognize that in principle. See Steffel v. Thompson,
Thus, the district court properly decerti-fied the Rule 23(b)(2) class action, which had been certified in the first place for declaratory and injunctive relief only. That, then, leads to Smith’s claim that there should have been a damages class action also. See Rule 23(b)(3).
The district court did not certify a damages class action under Rule 23(b)(3) at the time that it first certified the injunctive and declaratory relief class action on April 22, 1998. At that time, Smith did not have a right to seek an immediate appeal in this court because the special appeal procedure was not yet effective. See Rule 23(f) (effective December. 1, 1998). No other certification of issues for appeal was then requested or obtained. In that respect, it should be noted that Smith had not actually asked for both a Rule 23(b)(2) and a Rule 23(b)(3) class certification, but had, instead, listed the latter as an alternative to the former. In this circuit, at least, the provisions are not mutually exclusive. See Officers for Justice v. Civil Serv. Comm’n,
At any rate, when the district court decertified the Rule 23(b)(2) class on February 10, 1999, the new procedure was in place and an immediate appeal could be, and was, applied for. However, the Rule 23(b)(3) issue was not part of the order of February 10, 1999, and is not properly before us at this time. Nor will it do to argue, as Smith does, that we can consider the whole of the district court’s order, and reverse for any appropriate reason. See Chudasama v. Mazda Motor Corp.,
Therefore, the district court’s order which refused to certify a Rule 23(b)(3) class is not properly before us, and we will not consider it.
C. Denial of Partial Summary Judgment
The district court denied Smith’s partial summary judgment motion because it decided that under Supreme Court precedent race could be used as a factor in educational admissions decisions, even where that was not done for remedial purposes. That, in effect, encompasses the questions that the district court thought warranted a 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) order, and the questions that we accepted for decision.
There can be no doubt that the district court’s decision faithfully followed Justice Powell’s opinion in Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265,
First,
Second, if the purpose of an educational institution “is to assure within its student body some specified percentage of a particular group merely because of its race or ethnic origin, such a preferential purpose must be rejected not as insubstantial but as facially invalid.” Id. at 307,
Third, “[t]he State certainly has a legitimate and substantial interest in ameliorating, or eliminating where feasible, the disabling effects of identified discrimination.” Id. However, that will not justify a racial classification “in the absence of judicial, legislative, or administrative findings of constitutional or statutory violations.” Id. And, “isolated segments of our vast governmental structures are not competent to make those decisions, at least in the absence of legislative mandates and legislatively determined criteria.” Id. at 309,
Fourth, the attainment of a diverse student body “is a constitutionally permissible goal for an institution of higher education.” Id. at 311-12,
The Law School does not assert that its program came within the Third principle, but it does say that it came within the Fourth one. The district court agreed that if the Law School did come within the Fourth principle, Smith was not entitled to a partial summary judgment. That, as we have said, is a correct reading of Justice Powell’s opinion. The difficulty with which we are presented is that in Bakke none of the other Justices fully agreed with Justice Powell’s opinion, so we are left with the task of deciding just what the Supreme Court decided.
In a separate opinion, Justice Stevens, who was joined by Chief Justice Burger and Justices Stewart and Rehnquist, agreed only that the program under review violated Title VI when it excluded “Bakke from the Medical School because of his race.” Id. at 421,
Justice Brennan authored still another opinion in which he was joined by Justices White, Marshall and Blackmun. They would have upheld the program in question, quota system though it was. In their view, Title VI “does not bar the preferential treatment of racial minorities as a means of remedying past societal discrimination to the extent that such action is consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment.” Id. at 328,
In the first place, they expressed discomfort with the idea that strict scrutiny of this kind of racial classification (that is, one that advantages others over Caucasians) should be required when the classification did not tend to stigmatize a less favored group. See id. at 356-58,
Justice Brennan, and the others, however, did not agree with Justice Powell’s limitation of the Third principle to those instances where institutional discrimination was shown, or legislative, etc., findings were made. Rather, they would permit a program whose “articulated purpose [was] remedying the effects of past societal discrimination.” Id. at 362,
In fine, the Justices who concurred in Justice Brennan’s opinion would have es
That leaves the Fourth principle. It is interesting to note that Justice Brennan’s opinion does not really disagree with the Fourth principle’s statement that race can be used as a plus factor, even if there were no past societal discrimination shown, as such. Really, his opinion did not need to do so because he saw societal discrimination as a given, and would, perhaps, allow much more than a simple plus to be assigned to it. Nevertheless, he and the Justices who joined him were of the opinion that their approach did not grant seats in the university based solely on race, but only to “minority applicants likely to have been isolated from the mainstream of American life ...; other minority applicants are eligible only through the regular admissions program.” Id. at 377,
Therefore, it appears that those Justices would simply give more weight to the race factor than would the Fourth principle, but they, it seems clear, would not have eschewed the use of a plus factor in a program that also looked to other considerations. Indeed, they saw nothing unconstitutional about a diversity based program that at least purported to take all kinds of special characteristics and talents, including race, into account, and they opined that a program of that sort is certainly constitutional. See id. In other words, they agreed with the Fourth principle’s conclusion that a program of that type was constitutional.
But what is one to make of that fragmented decision of the Supreme Court; what guidance or principles did it convey to an anxious nation, and to even more anxious educators? Perhaps it is a sign of our fractious times that the. Supreme Court has had to provide us with a template for reading its fractured opinions. It has declared that “[w]hen a fragmented Court decides a case and no single rationale explaining the result enjoys the assent of five Justices, ‘the holding of the Court may be viewed as that position taken by those Members who concurred in the judgments on the narrowest grounds.’ ” Marks v. United States,
Bakke presents a special problem because Justice Brennan’s opinion disagreed with Justice Powell’s opinion that the Davis Medical School program, as it then stood, had to be overturned on constitutional grounds. The overturning of that program, thus, actually required the vote of Justice Powell plus the votes of those who joined in Justice Stevens’ opinion. The latter, however, so voted on the broad basis that Title VI precluded all race-conscious admission policies. Thus, Justice Powell’s opinion was certainly more narrow than'theirs in that respect. Still, it was clear that a majority of the Court did not take the view reflected in Justice Stevens’ opinion. A majority would have allowed for some race-based considerations in educational institutions, both under Title VI and under the Fourteenth Amendment. Thus, a race-based possibility must be taken to be the actual rationale adopted by the Court. Certainly, Justice Powell’s opinion has often been cited approvingly in that regard. See, e.g., Metro Brood., Inc.
When we do, it becomes apparent that Justice Powell’s analysis is the narrowest footing upon which a race-conscious decision making process could stand. If educational institutions can sometimes use race in their admission alchemy, virtually every point in Justice Brennan’s opinion would establish broader grounds for allowing that. The standard of scrutiny set forth in the First principle would become, if anything, less demanding. The Third principle would be vastly expanded to allow any unit of any institution to take account of societal discrimination. Finally, race would, at the very least, become a much more weighty factor in the Fourth principle, and even come close to being a trump where some disadvantage to a member of a favored group was shown. True it is that Justice Brennan did not specifically say that “race” could be used to achieve student body diversity in the absence of any societal discrimination, but, then, there was no need for him to do so in light of his view about past societal discrimination. Yet, we can hardly doubt that he would have embraced that somewhat narrower principle if need be, for he thought that it was simply an allotrope of the principle he was propounding. If the various opinions in Bakke mixed so many different colors that the result became rather muddy, that result was still clear enough to permit educators to rely upon the opinion that gave the decision its life and meaning — the opinion that avoided both polar possibilities. More importantly, we are required so to do.
We are well aware of the fact that much has happened since Bakke was handed down. Since that time, the Court has not looked upon race-based factors with much favor. See, e.g., Adarand,
We, therefore, leave it to the Supreme Court to declare that the Bakke rationale regarding university admissions policies has become moribund, if it has. We will not.
CONCLUSION
The district court correctly decided that Justice Powell’s opinion in Bakke described the law and would require a determination that a properly designed and operated race-conscious admissions program at the law school of the University of Washington would not be in violation of Title VI or the Fourteenth Amendment. It was also correct when it determined that Bakke has not been overruled by the Supreme Court. Thus, at our level of the judicial system Justice Powell’s opinion remains the law.
However, the Law School has encountered a peripeteia in its own state; it is bound by 1-200, which precludes it from granting “preferential treatment” to any individual “on the basis of race.” That has rendered Smith’s request for prospective relief moot because we “[should] not assume that a university, professing to employ a facially nondiscriminatory admissions policy, would operate it as a cover for the functional equivalent of a quota system. In short, good faith [should] be presumed in the absence of a showing to the contrary....” Bakke,
AFFIRMED.
Notes
. The individuals are Wallace D. Loh, Dean of the Law School (1990-1995), Roland J. Hjorth, Dean of the Law School (1995-), Sandra Madrid, Assistant Dean of the Law School, and Richard Kummert, Faculty Member and Chair of the Admissions Committee of the Law School.
.Hereafter we will simply refer to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 as Rule 23.
. The certified class consisted of all Caucasian applicants who were denied admission to the law school commencing in 1994.
. The district court entered an order on February 22, 1999, clarifying its April 22, 1998, order "to hold that for the reasons stated in that Order certification of the plaintiffs' claims for damages would not be appropriate under Rule 23(b)(3).”
.The measure is now codified at Wash. Rev. Code § 49.60.400(1). It will hereafter be referred to as 1-200.
. We recognize that on February 22, 1999, the district court clarified its April 22, 1998, order by indicating that although it had not expressly addressed the alternative motion to certify a Rule 23(b)(3) class in the earlier order it did not believe that damage claims would be an appropriate part of a class action in this case. But no appeal was sought from the February 22, 1999, order.
. We will hereafter refer to these and the other principles we outline as the First princi-pie, the Second principle, etc.
. We acknowledge that Hopwood v. Texas,