Dive Summary:

• In the case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas is looking to secure Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's swing vote by focusing much of its energy in a brief submitted on Monday on assuring Kennedy that their race-conscious admissions policy is distinct from one he ruled against in 2003's Grutter v. Bollinger decision.
• The university's brief argues that rejected Texas applicant Abigail Noel Fisher "really is just asking this court to move the goal posts on higher education in America" and spends a great deal of time countering her argument that the university achieves sufficient levels of diversity via race-neutral means.
• The school's broader argument is that its policy is in line with the Supreme Court's previous decisions regarding affirmative action and that a decision to overrule it would gut 35 years' worth of Supreme Court precedents allowing race-conscious admissions.

From the article:

The University of Texas at Austin is defending race-conscious admissions before the U.S. Supreme Court with arguments that explicitly seek to win over Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, widely regarded as the court's swing vote on the issue. In a brief submitted to the court on Monday, the university focuses much of its energy on offering Justice Kennedy assurances that the policy is distinct from one he found troublesome when the Supreme Court last weighed in on such admission practices, in 2003. ...