14 states including New York have filed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the use of race in college admissions. In the case of Fisher  v. University of Texas at Austin, a white student who was denied admissions says  her civil and constitutional rights were violated . Frank Askin the head of the constitutional law clinic at Rutgers Newark, says the case raises questions over whether or not race and diversity could ever be considered as criteria for admissions.

“The programs would be undermined, a lot of them would just immediately probably change their program to comply with any new law set down by the Supreme Court and it would certainly clearly undermine any efforts to protect diversity in higher education.”

 Arguments in the case will be heard in October .This will be the court's first ruling on affirmative action in higher ed. in nearly a decade.