White v. Engler
Federal class action challenging a Michigan college scholarship program as discriminatory.
We were co-counsel with the ACLU Fund of Michigan, the NAACP-Michigan State Conference, and MALDEF in this federal class action challenging a Michigan college scholarship program as discriminatory. The suit charged that the state’s reliance on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test as the sole criterion for awarding scholarships discriminated against racial and ethnic minorities, as well as economically disadvantaged students. U.S. Supreme Court decisions in unrelated cases eviscerated plaintiffs’ disparate impact claim. As a result, plaintiffs agreed to dismiss that claim and to proceed with their intentional discrimination claim based on a “deliberate indifference” standard. The case settled before trial. Public Justice State Coordinator Michael Pitt of Royal Oak, MI and Kary Moss of Detroit’s ACLU were co-lead counsel. Co-counsel were Michael Steinberg of Detroit’s ACLU; Alonzo Rivas of Chicago’s MALDEF; Peggy Goldberg of Royal Oak, MI; Judith Martin of Okemos, MI; John Johnson of Detroit’s NAACP; and Public Justice’s Adele Kimmel and former Public Justice Attorney Rebecca Epstein.
