Press Release

“Asian Americans benefit from affirmative action, and all students benefit from the diverse student body that affirmative action cultivates.”

NEW YORK, NY — Today, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of 121 Asian American groups and educators in support of race-conscious admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC). AALDEF argues that contrary to the claims made by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), Asian Americans benefit from an admissions process that allows them to present their whole selves in their college application.

“The meritless arguments by SFFA harmfully reinforce the ‘model minority myth’ of Asian Americans as more successful than other communities of color. This only serves to pit our communities against each other to the express benefit of white students,” said Margaret Fung, executive director of AALDEF. “The truth is Asian Americans continue to be underrepresented in higher education and in American society at large. Asian Americans benefit from affirmative action, and all students benefit from the diverse student body that affirmative action cultivates.”

In 2018, AALDEF filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts opposing SFFA’s challenge to Harvard’s race-conscious admissions policy and later filed another amicus brief in the First Circuit in the same case. A decade ago, AALDEF urged the Supreme Court to uphold the University of Texas at Austin’s race-conscious admissions policy. Foley Hoag LLP is pro bono co-counsel representing AALDEF and its co-amici.

LIST OF AMICI

Organizations Represented by AALDEF

1. 18 Million Rising

2. Amherst Asian Students Association

3. Asian American Federation

4. Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts

5. Asian American Psychological Association

6. Asian American Resource Workshop

7. Asian American Students in Action (AASiA)

8. Asian American/Asian Research Institute (CUNY)

9. Asian Americans United

10. Asian Community Development Corporation

11. Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania

12. Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO

13. Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA) at Arizona State University Law

14. The Asian Pacific American Law Students Association at Columbia Law School

15. The Asian Pacific American Law Students Association at Harvard Law School

16. Asian Pacific American Law Student Association at Northeastern University School of Law

17. Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA) at New York University School of Law

18. Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, Quinnipiac University School of Law

19. Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey (APALA-NJ)

20. Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University

21. Center for Asian American Studies at University of Massachusetts Lowell

22. Chinese for Affirmative Action

23. Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF)

24. Chinese Progressive Association - Boston

25. DRUM - Desis Rising Up & Moving

26. East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU)

27. Filipino American Lawyers Association of New York

28. Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

29. GAPIMNY - Empowering Queer & Trans Asian Pacific Islanders

30. Greater Boston Legal Services, Inc.

31. Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition

32. “I Have A Dream” Foundation

33. Japanese American Citizens League Philadelphia Chapter

34. Korean American Family Service Center

35. Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP)

36. Massachusetts Asian American Educators Association

37. Mekong NYC

38. MinKwon Center for Community Action

39. Minnesota 8

40. NASPA Asian Pacific Islander Knowledge Community

41. National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (CAPACD)

42. National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)

43. National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)

44. North American South Asian Law Students Association

45. OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates of Greater Seattle

46. OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates

47. OCA Asian Pacific Islander American Advocates Utah Chapter

48. OCA Greater Chicago

49. OCA Greater Houston

50. Providence Youth Student Movement

51. South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

52. South Asian Bar Association of North America

53. Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

54. Southeast Asian Defense Project

55. Southeast Asian Freedom Network

56. VietLead

57. Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign

58. Xin Sheng Project

Individuals Represented by AALDEF

Institutional affiliations are provided for identification purposes only.

59. Beena Ahmad, Acting Co-Director, Lawyering Program, City University School of Law

60. Nermeen Arastu, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law

61. Sabrineh Ardalan, Clinical Professor, Harvard Law School

62. Rob Buscher, Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania Asian American Studies Program

63. Stewart Chang, Professor of Law, William S. Boyd School of Law at University of Nevada, Las Vegas

64. Robert S. Chang, Professor of Law and Executive Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, Seattle University School of Law

65. Asima Chaudhary, Assistant Professor, CUNY School of Law

66. Carolyn Chen, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley

67. Vichet Chhuon, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota

68. Gabriel J. Chin, Edward L. Barrett Jr. Chair and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law, University of California, Davis School of Law

69. Susan Chung, Graduate Lawyering Program Faculty, New York University School of Law

70. Hetal Dalal, Assistant Professor, Mitchell Hamline School of Law

71. Meera E Deo, The Honorable Vaino Spencer Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School

72. Harvey Dong, Continuing Lecturer, Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies, University of California, Berkeley

73. Kecia Fong, Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania

74. Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi, Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

75. Margaret Hahn-Dupont, Teaching Professor, Northeastern University School of Law

76. Kimberly Holst, Clinical Professor of Law, Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law

77. Caroline K. Hong, Associate Professor, Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY)

78. Emily M.S. Houh, Gustavus Henry Wald Professor of the Law and Contracts, University of Cincinnati College of Law

79. Marina Hsieh, Senior Fellow, Santa Clara University School of Law

80. Vox Jo Hsu, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric & Writing, University of Texas at Austin

81. Chaumtoli Huq, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law

82. Lisa Ikemoto, Professor, University of California, Davis School of Law

83. Anil Kalhan, Professor of Law, Drexel University Kline School of Law

84. Fariha Khan, Co-Director, Asian American Studies, University of Pennsylvania

85. Kathleen Kim, Associate Dean of Equity & Inclusion, Professor of Law, William Rains Fellow, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola Law School

86. Nadia Y. Kim, Professor of Asian American Studies and Sociology, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola Law School

87. Pauline Kim, Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law

88. Annie Lai, Clinical Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law

89. Brant Lee, Assistant Dean for Diversity and Social Justice Initiatives, Professor of Law, The University of Akron School of Law

90. Donna Lee, Professor, CUNY School of Law

91. Andrew Leong, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston

92. Shirley Lin, Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School

93. Penn Loh, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master of Public Policy Program and Community Practice, Tufts University

94. Shirley Lung, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law

95. Catherine Ma, Professor, City University of New York

96. Mari Matsuda, Professor of Law, William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii

97. Soniya Munshi, Associate Professor of Ethnic and Race Studies, CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College

98. Kevin Nadal, Distinguished Professor, City University of New York

99. Phil Tajitsu Nash, Lecturer, University of Maryland College Park

100. Franklin Odo, John Woodruff Simpson Lecturer, Amherst College

101. A. Naomi Paik, Associate Professor of Criminology, Law, & Justice and Global Asian Studies, University of Illinois, Chicago

102. Diana Pan, Associate Professor, CUNY - Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center

103. Aaron Parayno, Director of the Asian American Center & Ph.D. Candidate, Tufts University

104. Josephine Park, Professor of English and Asian American Studies, University of Pennsylvania

105. Seema N. Patel, Lecturer in Residence, University of California, Berkeley School of Law

106. Rupa Pillai, Senior Lecturer, Asian American Studies, University of Pennsylvania

107. Kim D. Ricardo, Professor of Law, University of Illinois, Chicago School of Law

108. Natsu Taylor Saito, Regents’ Professor Emerita, Georgia State University College of Law

109. Courtney Sato, Mellon Assistant Professor, Department of Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora, Tufts University

110. Ragini Shah, Clinical Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School

111. Connie So, Teaching Professor, University of Washington

112. Cynthia Soohoo, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law

113. Celina Su, Marilyn J. Gittell Chair in Urban Studies and Professor of Political Science, City University of New York

114. Elizabeth S. Tanaka, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Quinnipiac University School of Law

115. Carlos Masashi Teuscher, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School

116. Van Tran, Associate Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center

117. Phitsamay S. Uy, Associate Professor & Co-Director of Center for Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell

118. Linta Varghese, Assistant Professor of Asian and Asian American Studies, Borough of Manhattan Community College

119. Natasha Varyani, Associate Professor of Law, New England Law | Boston

120. Margaret Woo, Professor of Law, Northeastern University

121. K. Wayne Yang, Professor, University of California, San Diego

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For additional information, contact:

Stuart J. Sia
Communications Director
212.966.5932 x203
ssia@aaldef.org