Grutter v. Bollinger

Case Overview

Upheld the University of Michigan Law School's holistic, individualized consideration of race under strict scrutiny, adopting Justice Powell's Bakke diversity rationale as a majority holding, while the companion case Gratz struck down mechanical point systems. Justice O'Connor's expectation that racial preferences would no longer be needed in 25 years became the pivot of Students for Fair Admissions, which ended the Grutter framework in 2023.