A Texas group has no standing to claim that New York University illegally gives preference to women and racial minorities when selecting editors and articles for the NYU Law Review, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the group Faculty, Alumni and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences had failed to show that its members have suffered an injury. The 2018 lawsuit claimed that the student-run journal once chose editors and articles through merit alone but in recent years started giving weight to women, racial minorities and to sexual orientation and gender identity.
The suit had argued that the process amounts to illegal discrimination against whites and men, and that it diminishes the prestige for alumni who earned spots in the past. The lawsuit had requested that the US Education Department immediately cut federal funding to the school until the journal stopped considering race or sex.
The appeals ruling affirmed a lower court judge's decision to reject the lawsuit for lack of standing to sue. The group's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawyer representing NYU, Tamar Lusztig, said the university is thrilled with the court's decision.
"NYU and its faculty and staff are committed to furthering the pursuit of knowledge, justice, and equality under the law," Lusztig said in an email, adding "we hope the law students and wider NYU community who work hard to make the law school an inclusive place can now put this matter behind them."
