AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on whether the University of Texas is violating an affirmative-action law.
Attorneys for two white students contend they were denied freshman admission because the university considers race and ethnicity when it decides who to admit, the Austin American-Statesman reported Sunday.
The case was filed in 2008 and is the first challenge to a university affirmative-action policy since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld it at the University of Michigan's School of Law in 2003, the newspaper reported.
The New Orleans appeals court will hear oral arguments on the case Tuesday.
"Our argument is relatively simple," said Edward Blum, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Project on Fair Representation. "We believe that the reintroduction of race and ethnicity in the admissions process by the University of Texas in unconstitutional and falls outside of the parameters where race is allowed to be used."
The University of Texas defends its position, the newspaper said.
