Videojournalists set up outside of the Supreme Court in Washington on Tuesday. Credit: J. David Ake

By of the

In the wake of Tuesday's U.S. Supreme Court decision, one Wisconsin lawmaker pledged to offer legislation to ban affirmative action policies in the state.

State senator and congressional candidate Glenn Grothman, a Republican from West Bend, said he would seek to bring back such legislation, which he has proposed in the past without success. So far, no legislative leaders in Wisconsin have signed on to his proposal, and as a constitutional amendment it would need to be approved by two consecutive sessions of the Legislature and by voters in a referendum.

Grothman praised the U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday upholding a similar ban in Michigan against a legal challenge.

"People do not realize — the average person does not realize — how extensive race and gender preferences are in our society," Grothman said.

As an example of this, Grothman pointed to the targets for state and federal contracts to go to businesses owned by women and minorities or to businesses with certain hiring or subcontracting practices for those groups. Those kinds of requirements and targets are "divisive," said Grothman, who is running to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Tom Petri of Fond du Lac in the 6th Congressional District.

These targets for government contractors are also used to help other groups such as veterans and small business owners.

Grothman said that the best way to boost lagging levels of minority education, income and employment is to improve schools.

Meanwhile, dozens of applicants denied admission to the University of Wisconsin-Madison have contacted a nonprofit legal group that's soliciting clients for a potential lawsuit because race is among the many factors the state flagship takes into account in its admissions decisions.

The potential lawsuit is looming against a backdrop of the U.S. Supreme Court decision. A UW-Madison spokesman declined Tuesday to comment on the Supreme Court decision.

The justices said in a 6-2 ruling that Michigan voters had the right to change their state constitution in 2006 to prohibit public colleges and universities from taking account of race in admissions decisions. The justices said that a lower federal court was wrong to set aside the change as discriminatory.

Tuesday's Supreme Court decision boosts similar voter-approved initiatives in California and Washington state banning affirmative action in education. A few other states have adopted laws or issued executive orders to bar race-conscious admissions policies, according to news reports.

A spokeswoman for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker declined to comment on the Supreme Court filing. The GOP leaders of the Legislature also had no comment on the Supreme Court decision.

Former state Commerce secretary Mary Burke, a Democrat running against Walker, said in a statement that she wouldn't undo the UW-Madison policies as governor. She noted that a recent report by the Casey Foundation found that Wisconsin was among the worst in the nation for providing opportunities to minority children, particularly blacks.

"Given the daunting challenges facing minority students in Wisconsin, this is not the time to undo college admissions policies that provide greater opportunity to students. As a state we value fairness, opportunity, access to higher education and diversity — continuing to ensure our campuses reflect those values is central to growing our economy," Burke said.

The Virginia-based legal group behind the June 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case, Fisher vs. University of Texas-Austin, a few weeks ago began seeking applicants to UW-Madison, Harvard University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who feel they were denied admission because of race.

"Many dozens" of individuals, mostly from Wisconsin, shared their stories about being denied admission to UW-Madison through a form at the website, uwnotfair.org, run by Project on Fair Representation, according to the group's director, Edward Blum.

If the group brings legal action against UW-Madison, it would be similar to its case against the University of Texas-Austin on behalf of UT-Austin applicant Abigail Fisher, who felt she was denied admission because of her race.

In the Fisher case, the Supreme Court ruled 7-1 last June that under certain circumstances, it is constitutional for public colleges and universities to consider race in admissions. The Fisher decision found there is a right to consider race, but not an obligation to do so.

Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling does not invalidate the Fisher ruling because the current case says states can reject the use of "the right" to consider race.

After being rejected from the Texas university in 2008, Fisher argued the university's reintroduction of race in admissions in 2005 was unconstitutional because, among other reasons, the university had achieved racial and ethnic diversity through a race-neutral Top 10 Percent Plan.

The uwnotfair.org website asks unsuccessful applicants about their class rank, standardized test scores and extracurricular activities. "We're still in the phase in which we're hearing from lots of students," Blum said.

"These are mostly Wisconsin residents — young high schoolers who believe their grades, extracurricular activities and test scores were sufficient to get into UW-Madison," Blum said. "We explain Wisconsin is a highly competitive institution that will reject some highly qualified students" because there are so many who apply, he said. "But the rejection process has to be fair and balanced."